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THE 

LITERARY     HISTORY 
OF    PHILADELPHIA 


BY 


ELLIS  PAXSON  OBERHOLTZER,  Ph.  D.  (Penna.) 

Author  of  "Robert  Morris,  Patriot  and  Financier,"  "Abraham 

Lincoln"  Editor  of  the  "American  Crisis 

Biographies"  etc. 


PHILADELPHIA 
GEORGE  W.  JACOBS  &  CO. 

PUBLISHERS 


This  edition  of  "  The  Literary  History  of  Phila 
delphia"  is  limited  to  One  Thousand  copies,  of  which 
this  is 


No.. 


Copyright,  1906,  by 

GEORGE  W.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY, 

Published  November,  1906. 


TO  THE  MEMBERS 
OF 

3be  JFranfeltn  f  nn  Club, 

WHO   LIVE   AND  LABOR  FOR   THEMSELVES,   THEIR   CRAFT,   AND   THE  LAND 
WHICH  IS   HALLOWED  BY  THE  MEMORY  OF  THEIR  LIT 
ERARY  SIRES,  THIS  VOLUME  IS  AFFEC 
TIONATELY  INSCRIBED. 


442278 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  As  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING i 

II.  THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN 34 

III.  THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION  ....  84 

IV.  THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR 125 

V.  THE  PORT  FOLIO 168 

VI.  IN  TRANSITION 189 

VII.  LITERARY  DEMOCRACY 226 

VIII.  GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP 263 

IX.  "  BLACK  LETTERS  " 310 

X.  LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS 339 

XI.  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS 374 

INDEX 4J9 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PORTRAIT  OF  JAMES  LOGAN Facing  page    12 

PORTRAITS   OF   JACOB   DUCHE  AND   FRANCIS   HOP- 

KINSON "        "       44 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN,  FROM  THE  MARTIN  PORTRAIT  "  "  54 
PORTRAITS  OF  PROVOST  WILLIAM  SMITH  AND  MRS. 

ELIZABETH  FERGUSON "        "       62 

TITLE  PAGE  OF  DR.  SMITH'S  "  AMERICAN  MAGAZINE  "      "        "       64 

TITLE    PAGE    OF    THOMAS    GODFREY'S    "  COURT    OF 

FANCY"        "        "       70 

A  PAGE  FROM  NATHANIEL  EVANS'S  "  POEMS  "  .  .  "  "  74 
GRAEME  PARK,  THE  HOME  OF  MRS.  FERGUSON  .  .  "  "  76 
ELIZABETH  GRAEME'S  BOOK  PLATE "  "  78 

A  PAGE  FROM  MRS.  FERGUSON'S  METRICAL  VERSION 
OF  THE  PSALMS,  IN  THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE  PENN 
SYLVANIA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY "  "  80 

PORTRAITS  OF   WILLIAM    BRADFORD,   II,   AND  JOHN 

DICKINSON "       "       88 

THE  BARTRAM  HOUSE  IN  BARTRAM'S  GARDENS  AND 
THE  HOUSE  AT  SEVENTH  AND  MARKET  STREETS, 
IN  WHICH  THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE 
WAS  FRAMED "  "104 

PORTRAITS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE  AND  BENJAMIN  RUSH  "  "      no 

PORTRAIT  OF  PHILIP  FRENEAU "  "      118 

TITLE  PAGE  OF  JOEL  BARLOW'S  "  COLUMBIAD  "    .     .  "  "      134 

PORTRAIT  OF  MATHEW  CAREY "  "136 

FRANKLIN'S  LIBRARY  CHAIR,  IN  THE  ROOMS  OF  THE 
AMERICAN  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY,  AND  A  PIC 
TURE  ILLUSTRATING  ALEXANDER  WILSON'S  POEM, 
"  THE  FORESTERS  "  IN  THE  "  PORT  FOLIO  "  .  .  "  "  140 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

TITLE  PAGE  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME  OF  THE  FIRST 
AMERICAN  EDITION  OF  THE  "  ENCYCLOPEDIA 
BRITANNICA  " Facing  page  151 

TITLE  PAGE  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME  OF  REES'S  "  CY 
CLOPEDIA  " "  "  153 

PORTRAITS    OF   JOSEPH    HOPKINSON    AND    WILLIAM 

CLIFFTON  (FROM  THE  "AN ALECTIC  MAGAZINE")        "        "      154 

PORTRAIT  OF  CHARLES  BROCKDEN  BROWN    ....        "        "      162 

SILHOUETTE  OF  JOSEPH   DENNIE  FROM  THE  "  PORT 

FOLIO" "       "      168 

TITLE  PAGE  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME  OF  THE  "  PORT 

FOLIO" "       "170 

PORTRAIT  OF  JOSEPH  DENNIE "  174 

TITLE  PAGE  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME  OF  A  NEW  SERIES 

OF  THE  "  PORT  FOLIO  " "       "      180 

TOM  MOORE,  FROM  "  GRAHAM'S  MAGAZINE  "...        "       "      181 

FRONTISPIECE  FROM  THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  EDITION  OF 
SHAKESPEARE,  AND  A  FRONTISPIECE  FROM  THE 
"  PORT  FOLIO  " "  "  186 

ROBERT  WALSH,  FROM  A  PORTRAIT  IN  POSSESSION  op 

His  GRANDSON,  J.  F.  WALSH "        "      192 

FIRST   PAGE  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME  OF  WALSH'S 

"QUARTERLY"        "        "194 

PORTRAITS    OF   ALEXANDER   WILSON   AND  JOHN   J. 

AUDUBON "        "202 

PORTRAITS  OF  JANE  FAIRFIELD  AND  JAMES  MCHENRY, 
FROM  A  PICTURE  IN  POSSESSION  OF  His  GRAND 
DAUGHTER,  MRS.  WILLIAM  HOWELL,  JR.  ...  "  "  214 

FIRST  PAGE  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME  OF  THE  "  MIRROR 

OF  TASTE"   .     %    *    ,.    ^ "        "      220 

FRONTISPIECES  FROM  THE  "  ANALECTIC  MAGAZINE"        "        "      222 

COOKE  AS  KING  LEAR,  ONE  OF  CHARLES  R.  LESLIE'S 

DRAWINGS  IN  THE  "MIRROR  OF  TASTE"  ...        "        "      222 

THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  LITHOGRAPH,  FROM  THE  "  AN 
ALECTIC  MAGAZINE,"  AND  AN  EARLY  WOOD  CUT 
FROM  "GRAHAM'S  MAGAZINE" "  "224 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

SARAH  J.  HALE,  FROM  A  PORTRAIT  LOANED  BY  HER 

GRANDDAUGHTER,  MARY  STOCKTON  HUNTER  .     .  Facing  page  230 

PORTRAITS  OF  ELIZA  LESLIE  AND  ALICE  B.  NEAL  .     .  "  "  234 

A  FRONTISPIECE  FROM  "  GODEY'S  LADY'S  BOOK  "  .     .  "  "  236 

TYPICAL  FASHION  PLATE  FROM  GODEY'S  MAGAZINE  "  "  238 

PORTRAIT  OF  EDWIN  FORREST "  "  242 

PORTRAITS  OF  RICHARD  PENN  SMITH  AND  ROBERT  T. 

CONRAD "       "246 

PORTRAIT  OF  ROBERT  MONTGOMERY  BIRD     ....        "        "      250 
PORTRAITS  OF  T.  S.  ARTHUR  AND  GEORGE  LIPPARD    .        "       "      258 

FRONTISPIECE  FROM  THE  "  CASKET,"  AND  FRONTIS 
PIECE  FROM  THE  "  GENTLEMAN'S  MAGAZINE  "     .        "        "      264 

A  TITLE   PAGE  FROM   THE   "  GENTLEMAN'S   MAGA 
ZINE  "  WHILE  POE  WAS  AN  EDITOR    ....        "       "266 

PORTRAITS    OF   Louis    A.    GODEY    AND    GEORGE    R. 

GRAHAM "       "268 

TITLE  PAGE  OF  "  GRAHAM'S  "  WHEN  THE  MAGAZINE 

WAS  AT  THE  HEIGHT  OF  ITS  GLORY    ....        "        "      270 

A  FRONTISPIECE  FROM  "  GRAHAM'S  MAGAZINE  "  .     .        "       "      272 
A  FRONTISPIECE  FROM  "  GRAHAM'S  MAGAZINE  "  .     .        "       "     276 

PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN    SARTAIN   AND  A  FRONTISPIECE 

FROM    "  SARTAIN'S   MAGAZINE  " "        "      278 

"UNDINE,"   AN   ENGRAVING  BY  JOHN   SARTAIN   IN 

"SARTAIN'S  MAGAZINE" "        "280 

A  PAGE  FROM  "  SARTAIN'S  MAGAZINE  " ;  FIRST  PUB 
LICATION  OF  "  THE  BELLS  " "       "281 

PORTRAITS    OF    REYNELL    COATES    AND   JOSEPH    R. 

CHANDLER •     •  284 

PORTRAIT  OF  EDGAR  ALLAN  POE 288 

"THE  BELLE  OF  THE  OPERA,"  CHARACTERISTIC  EN 
GRAVING  FROM  "GRAHAM'S  MAGAZINE"  ...  292 

A  PAGE  OF  ENGLISH'S  VERSE  FROM  THE  "GENTLE 
MAN'S  MAGAZINE"  "  294 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

"THE  BATTLE  OF  GERMANTOWN,"  AND  "A  PICNIC 

ON      THE      WlSSAHICKON,"      FROM      "  GRAHAM'S 

MAGAZINE  "       . Facing  page  296 

J.  BAYARD  TAYLOR,  AN  EARLY  PICTURE  IN  "  GRA 
HAM'S  MAGAZINE,"  AND  RUFUS  W.  GRISWOLD, 
FROM  "  GRAHAM'S  MAGAZINE  " "  "  298 

PORTRAITS  OF  JOSEPH  C.  NEAL  AND  ROBERT  MORRIS        "        "      302 

"  UNDERCLIFF,"  GEORGE  P.  MORRIS'S  HOME  ON  THE 
HUDSON  RIVER,  AND  PENNSYLVANIA  HALL  ON 
SIXTH  STREET  ..........  "  "320 

PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  GRIGG  ..........        "       "346 

PORTRAIT  OF  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT    .......        n       "     348 

PORTRAIT  OF  HENRY  C.  CAREY,  FROM  A  PHOTOGRAPH 

IN  POSSESSION  OF  MRS.  HOWARD  GARDINER  .     .        "       "      350 

TITLE  PAGE,  FOURTH  EDITION,  VOLUME  II,  OF 
HENRY  C.  CAREY'S  "  POLITICAL  ECONOMY  "  IN 
JAPANESE  ............  "  "352 

THE  ROOM  IN  WHICH  THE  CAREY  VESPERS  WERE 
HELD,  FROM  A  PAINTING  IN  POSSESSION  OF  MR. 
HENRY  CAREY  BAIRD "  "  356 

PORTRAITS  OF  HENRY  PETERSON  AND  ELISHA  KENT 

KANE "        "368 

BAYARD  TAYLOR,  FROM  EASTMAN  JOHNSON'S  POR 
TRAIT  IN  POSSESSION  OF  MRS.  BAYARD  TAYLOR  .  "  "  376 

SONNET  TO  GEORGE  H.  BOKER  BY  BAYARD  TAYLOR   .        "        "      380 

"  CEDARCROFT,"  BAYARD  TAYLOR'S  HOME  NEAR  KEN- 

NETT  SQUARE,  PA "       "382 

GEORGE  H.  BOKER,  FROM  A  PORTRAIT  PRESENTED  TO 

THE  FRANKLIN  INN  BY  MRS.  GEORGE  BOKER    .        "        "      388 

A  PORTRAIT  OF  THOMAS  BUCHANAN  READ,  PAINTED 
BY  HIMSELF  WHEN  ABOUT  THIRTY-SEVEN  YEARS 
OF  AGE.  FRANKLIN  INN  COLLECTION  ....  "  "394 

CHARLES  G.  LELAND,  FROM  A  PORTRAIT  PRESENTED  TO 
THE  FRANKLIN  INN  BY  His  SISTER,  MRS.  JOHN 
HARRISON "  "400 

WALT  WHITMAN,  FROM  A  FRANKLIN  INN  PORTRAIT       "       "     412 


INTRODUCTION 

The  old  lady  of  Boston  of  classical  memory,  who 
going  a  little  way  afield  to  be  asked  by  a  benighted 
person  what  kind  of  a  place  Boston  was,  replied, 
"  Bless  you!  Boston  is  not  a  place;  it  is  a  sentiment," 
might  just  as  well  have  been  nurtured  in  the  proud  lap 
of  Philadelphia.  There  are  Brahmins  in  the  Quaker 
City.  Indeed,  it  is  doubtful  if  there  is  another  place  in 
which  sentiment  is  a  stronger  force;  a  place  which  its 
people  leave  with  so  many  pangs  and  yearn  for  so 
deeply  while  absent,  until  they  can  find  a  way  to  return 
to  its  streets  and  homes,  and  its  sedate  and  wholesome 
pleasures.  Afflicted  though  it  be  with  unclean  streets, 
paved  with  round  stones,  now  happily  a  provincialism 
of  the  past;  vile  water  and  politics;  a  climate  hot  and 
cold,  wet  and  dry,  by  sudden  turns  of  natural  fate,  its 
history  and  its  present  state  are  beloved  by  its  citizens. 
No  community  in  America  has  the  same  compelling 
power  over  its  inhabitants.  Nowhere  else  does  pride 
of  race,  family,  house,  demesne,  vocation  and  religion 
unto  the  earliest  generations  call  up  such  recollec 
tions,  furnish  material  for  so  much  social  converse,  or 
so  deeply  influence  each  daily  thought  and  action  as  in 
Pennsylvania's  great  city  and  the  flourishing  counties 
and  towns  that  stretch  away  on  every  side. 

Singularly  enough,  with  this  pride  boasting  has 
never  had  companionship.  There  is  something  of  dis 
dain  in  the  mood  of  the  Philadelphian  meeting  one 


XI 


Xil  INTRODUCTION 

who  docs  not  know  and  love  his  city  even  as  he  himself 
knows  and  loves  it, —  just  as  the  Englishman  in  silence 
scorns  a  scoffer.  The  true  Philadelphian  understands 
the  strength  of  his  attachment  for  his  own  little  earthly 
coign;  he  knows  that  out  of  his  city  have  come  men 
great  and  valuable  in  the  service  of  the  nation  and  of 
mankind,  in  every  branch  of  human  doing.  The  city 
has  had  its  statesmen,  soldiers,  jurists,  scientists  and 
its  literary  men  —  poets,  philosophers  and  novelists. 
It  is  still  contributing  its  fair  portion  to  the  literature 
of  the  country.  But  with  the  spirit  of  the  place,  what 
its  people  have  done  may  be  forgotten  in  the  rivalries 
of  Boston  and  Indiana,  and  Philadelphians  themselves, 
although  inwardly  convinced  of  an  honorable  history, 
may  sometimes  lack  exact  knowledge  of  the  cause  of 
their  secret  boast. 

It  has  been  my  pleasant  task  in  these  chapters  to  in 
dicate  by  rather  rapid  sketches  what  has  been  achieved 
by  the  writers  and  publishers,  the  book  writers  and 
book  makers,  of  a  city  which  with  its  environs  in  the 
early  time  was  the  seat  of  so  many  active  dissenting 
theologies;  which  for  years  was  the  capital  of  all  the 
American  colonies  and  later  of  the  young  states,  being 
the  birthplace  of  two  writings  that  will  always  rank  as 
the  first  of  national  documents  —  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States;  and  which  afterward  for  long  was  the  unques 
tioned  literary  centre  of  the  republic.  It  is  every 
where  agreed  that  Philadelphia  was  the  focus  of 
literary  interest  in  this  country  during  the  later  colonial 
time,  the  Revolutionary  period,  and  subsequently,  until 
the  capital  was  removed  to  the  city  of  Washington  for 
which  axemen  had  laboriously  hewn  a  place  in  the 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

new  District  of  Columbia.  It  is  commonly  forgotten 
that  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  Phila 
delphia  was  the  principal  American  publishing  centre, 
both  for  books  and  periodicals,  if  its  native  writers 
were  fast  being  eclipsed  by  those  of  New  York  and 
New  England.  This  was  the  time  when  Poe,  Whit- 
tier,  Lowell  and  other  authors  were  led  to  the  city  to 
swell  today  the  interesting  memories  of  its  literary 
past. 

That  New  England,  as  is  frequently  asserted  in 
Pennsylvania,  had  the  important  advantage  of  cohe- 
siveness  which  has  always  been  lacking  in  Philadelphia, 
it  is  necessary  to  admit.  The  people  were  more  homo 
geneous  than  those  who  followed  Penn  to  his  wilder 
ness.  They  understood,  sympathized  and  supported 
each  other.  In  Pennsylvania,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  were  stubborn  and  crotchety  religionists,  not  of 
one  but  of  many  kinds,  of  many  races  and  speaking 
many  tongues.  Nothing  but  Quaker  toleration  could 
have  kept  the  colony  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  and 
the  Schuylkill  on  an  even  keel;  indeed  the  peace- 
loving  disposition  of  this  goodly  people  was  at  times 
most  sorely  tried.  From  such  an  admixture  of  races 
with  their  various  religions,  political  notions  and  social 
standards,  has  the  Pennsylvanian  come,  but  he  has  a 
character  today  that  is  all  h'ls  own.  The  Quakers  in 
their  broad  brims,  and  the  drab  Quakeresses  in  their 
long  pleat-bonnets  and  gowns  guiltless  of  ruffle  or  fur 
below,  are  little  seen  upon  the  city's  streets,  even  at 
Yearly  Meeting  time  when  the  surrounding  towns  send 
their  delegates  to  increase  its  Friendly  population. 
Even  in  West  Chester,  Wilmington,  Haddonfield  and 
outlying  places  in  which  the  Quaker  long  predominated, 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION 


he  seems  to  be  disappearing  to  return  no  more  forever. 
Nevertheless  he  lives  in  the  hearts  and  homes  of  the 
Pennsylvania  people.  Fused  with  the  German  sec 
tarians,  religious  free  thinkers  and  dissidents  like  the 
Quakers;  the  tempery  and  belligerent  Scotch-Irish  and 
others  Gaels;  the  more  formal  Church  of  England 
men  —  there  has  been  developed  a  type  of  American 
who  loves  his  home,  cherishes  his  ideals,  writes  of 
what  he  has  seen  and  learned  and  lived  through  in  his 
own  neighborhood.  He  does  not  look  upon  the  out 
sider  as  a  barbarian,  but  he  knows  that  he  is  where  he 
ought  to  be  and  that  his  traditions  are  the  traditions 
of  his  place  and  his  people. 

I  have  not  deceived  myself  in  the  thought  that  I 
have  made  a  complete  record  of  the  literary  activity  in 
two  centuries  and  a  quarter  in  and  about  the  city,  and 
names  which  should  have  been  included  may  not  be 
found  here.  The  writer  of  the  eighteenth  century 
would  not  have  loomed  very  prominently  in  the  nine 
teenth,  and  conversely  those  who  can  receive  no  men 
tion  in  the  nineteenth  may  not  have  been  the  inferiors 
of  those  who  seemed  to  shine  so  brilliantly  in  an  earlier 
age.  Achievement  is  a  relative  thing  and  where 
there  are  few  to  write  at  all,  even  those  who  do  it  ill 
attain  much  prominence. 

"  As  it  is  the  commendation  of  a  good  huntsman 
to  find  game  in  a  wide  wood,  so  it  is  no  imputation  if 
he  hath  not  caught  all,"  we  are  told  by  Plato  and 
this  thought  may  excuse  my  study  for  its  incomplete 
ness  at  many  points.  Nothing  has  of  course  been  said 
of  Philadelphia  writers  who  are  still  living  and  a  full 
share  of  attention  may  not  have  been  given  to  some 
recently  dead,  whose  place  in  our  letters  is  still  envel- 


INTRODUCTION 


XV 


oped  in  obscurity.  The  reader  will  perhaps  agree, 
however,  that  enough  have  been  found  to  create  a  nu 
merous  galaxy  and  to  establish  the  city's  claim  to  a 
higher  place  in  American  literature  than  is  usually  ac 
corded  it,  even  in  the  house  of  its  friends.  What  its 
future  position  may  be  it  is  vain  to  prophesy,  but  in 
the  echoes  and  footprints  of  the  past  may  perhaps  be 
found  some  augury  of  returning  grandeur. 

The  reader  will  agree,  too,  if  he  follow  the  book 
to  its  end,  that  no  local  attachment  or  pride  of  soil  has 
tempered  the  writer's  criticisms,  though  these  intro 
ductory  words  may  promise  much  sounding  phrase  to 
the  advantage  of  a  particular  neighborhood. 

E,  P.  O. 


THE  LITERARY  HISTORY  OF 
PHILADELPHIA 

CHAPTER  I 

AS   IT   WAS   IN   THE   BEGINNING 

It  is  declared  by  those  who  have  had  experience  in 
the  writing  and  publishing  of  biographies  of  the 
Quaker  founder  of  Pennsylvania,  that  his  life  is  not 
a  matter  of  marked  interest  to  the  present  generation 
of  book  readers.  Philadelphia  boasts  few  recollections 
of  William  Penn  except  as  a  wealthy  lord  proprietor  of 
virgin  American  land  which  he  sold  and  leased  to  all 
men  on  liberal  terms,  setting  up  and  administering 
here  what  was  for  its  time  a  most  wise  and  tolerant 
system  of  government.  We  know  of  the  homes  in 
which  he  dwelt,  the  barge  in  which  six  oarsmen  pro 
pelled  him  to  the  city  from  Pennsbury  Manor,  his  es 
tate  upon  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  five  miles  above 
Bristol,  and  the  pomp  and  display  of  his  life  so  irre 
concilable  with  the  social  customs  and  outward  forms 
later  observed  by  the  members  of  his  religious  sect. 
We  have  the  streets  and  squares  he  gave  us  and  many 
of  the  names  of  our  places  and  thoroughfares  are  of 
his  selection.  His  scholarly  attainments  are  recognized 
ungrudgingly,  but  few  perhaps  are  ready  to  believe  him 
a  master  of  a  clear,  forceful,  literary  prose  style. 

William  Penn's  writings  all  taken  together,  and  in- 


*:a":         •''•"'  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

eluding  his  letters  and  public  papers,  as  they  have  been 
selected  for  publication,  fill  several  large  volumes. 
These  for  the  most  part  have  lost  their  savor,  although 
his  "  Fruits  of  Solitude,"  admirable  reflections  written 
out  while  languishing  in  an  English  prison,  abundantly 
deserves  the  attention  of  readers  today.  Robert  Louis 
Stevenson  on  his  way  around  the  world  to  recover  the 
physical  strength  needed  to  keep  the  lamp  of  genius 
burning  within  his  frail  frame,  carried  with  him  in  his 
pocket  all  through  the  streets  of  San  Francisco,  this 
book  of  Penn's,  perusing  and  re-perusing  it  in  street 
cars  and  ferry  boats  when  he  was  "  sick  unto  death." 
"  While  just  now  we  are  so  busy  and  intelligent,"  said 
Stevenson,  "  there  is  not  the  man  living,  no,  nor  recently 
dead,  that  could  put  with  so  lovely  a  spirit  so  much 
honest  kind  wisdom  into  words."  * 

"  Never  marry  but  for  love,"  wrote  Penn,  "  but  see 
that  thou  lovest  what  is  lovely.  If  love  be  not  thy 
chiefest  motive  thou  wilt  soon  grow  weary  of  a  married 
state  and  stray  from  thy  promise  to  search  out  thy 
pleasures  in  forbidden  places.  Let  not  enjoyment 
lessen,  but  augment  affection;  it  being  the  basest  of 
passions  to  like  when  we  have  not  what  we  slight  when 
we  possess." 

Of  such  wisdom  and  morality,  becomingly  expressed, 
are  Penn's  "  Fruits  "  of  a  term  in  an  English  prison 
cell. 

Landing  with  the  Quaker  founder,  or  soon  after 
ward,  on  the  present  site  of  Philadelphia,  then  without 
a  house  where  a  million  and  a  half  abide  today,  Wil 
liam  Bradford  was  introduced  to  Penn's  colony.  Brad 
ford  brought  with  him  a  press,  type,  or  "  letters  "  as  he 

*  Stevenson's  Letters,  Vol.  I,  p.  232. 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  3 

called  them,  and  all  the  apparatus  necessary  at  that 
day  for  printing  on  white  paper.  He  was  born  in 
Leicestershire,  learning  his  trade  in  London  with  An 
drew  Sowle,  a  prominent  bookseller  and  publisher  dur 
ing  the  Commonwealth  and  the  Restoration,  and  mar 
ried  his  employer's  daughter  in  the  way  of  the  diligent 
young  man  in  the  Sunday  School  tale.  He  came  out 
to  America  to  find  fortune,  and  set  up  his  press  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Philadelphia, —  Burlington,  Byberry 
or  Chester  (accounts  vary)  —  establishing  himself  in  the 
city  proper  about  1688.  The  first  employment  for  one 
of  his  guild  in  such  a  colony  at  such  a  day,  was  in 
printing  the  proceedings  of  religious  bodies,  the  tracts 
of  religious  controversialists,  and  the  charters  and  laws 
of  the  young  government.  Bradford  was  a  Quaker 
and  soon  made  a  number  of  contracts  with  the  Meeting 
that  were  lucrative  to  him,  though  not  without  repeat 
edly  threatening  to  take  himself  and  his  press  back  to 
England  if  support  were  not  accorded  him  more  gener 
ously.  He  early  projected  an  American  edition  of  the 
Bible,  but  most  of  the  Friends,  being  men  of  substance 
had  brought  this  book  with  them  to  the  colony  and 
gave  no  encouragement  to  the  undertaking. 

Shortly,  he  became  involved  in  the  unhappy  conten 
tion  that  arose  in  the  early  history  of  the  Society  of 
Friends  between  George  Keith  and  the  other  leaders 
of  the  Meeting  in  America.  Keith  was  a  Scotchman, 
brought  up  a  Presbyterian.  For  some  reason  he  joined 
the  Friends,  and  came  to  America  to  settle  first 
in  the  Jerseys  whence  he  was  called  a  little  later  to 
become  head  master  of  a  school  which  the  Quakers 
had  recently  established  in  Philadelphia,  existing  still 
today  in  Twelfth  Street  as  the  William  Penn  Charter 


4  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

School.  He  was  able  and  aspiring  and  it  was  thought 
that  at  George  Fox's  death  in  1690  he  desired  to  wear 
the  founder's  mantle.  At  any  rate,  some  of  his  ene 
mies  charged  him  with  cherishing  such  an  ambition. 
Embittered  in  spirit,  he  attempted  to  lead  a  separatist 
movement.  While  the  question  will  always  be  in  dis 
pute,  it  will  occur  to  impartial  investigators  that  the 
schism  Keith  attempted  to  create  was  not  very  different 
from  that  effected  by  Elias  Hicks's  exertions  in  the  nine 
teenth  century,  a  less  able  but  a  more  sincere  man, 
whereby  unhappily  the  Society  was  split  in  twain  even 
as  to  neighborhoods  and  families.  When  Bayard 
Taylor's  Quakeress  secured  her  father's  consent  to 
marry  her  lover  — 

"  Indeed,  'twas  not  the  least  of  shocks, 
For  Benjamin  was  Hicksite  and  father  Orthodox." 

Keith,  however,  aimed  to  incline  the  Society  to 
greater  orthodoxy  while  Hicks  used  his  influence  in 
the  other  direction.  It  was  charged  of  Keith  that  he 
"  preached  two  Christs,"  and  that  he  questioned  the 
"  sufficiency  of  the  light,"  the  guiding  principle  in  Qua 
kerism,  demanding  a  "  confession  of  faith  "  and  other 
religious  forms  of  the  older  churches.  The  Quakers 
of  the  day  would  have  none  of  this;  they  controlled  the 
government  of  Pennsylvania  which  was  a  complete  the 
ocracy,  and  he  was  commanded  to  preach  no  longer, 
being  formally  disowned  both  in  this  country  and  Eng 
land.  Keith  carried  his  controversy  to  the  stage  of 
print  and  found  attention  at  the  hands  of  Cotton 
Mather  and  the  New  England  tractarians  as  well  as  in 
Philadelphia. 

Bradford  printed  his  friend's  appeal  to  the  Yearly 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  5 

Meeting,  which  was  declared  to  be  "  a  malicious  and 
seditious  paper."  He  was  clapped  into  jail,  his  type 
was  seized  and  an  innkeeper  who  offered  for  sale  a  few 
copies  of  the  pamphlet  was  arrested  also,  quite  in  the 
manner  of  modern  Germany.  The  most  opprobrious 
epithets  were  uttered  upon  both  sides,  by  Keithians 
and  anti-Keithians,  while  Bradford  lay  for  months  in 
his  cell,  awaiting  trial  at  the  hands  of  Quaker  judges 
and  a  Quaker  jury. 

Prior  to  this  experience,  Bradford  had  incurred  the 
displeasure  of  the  government  for  publishing  Daniel 
Leeds's  almanac  which  was  said  to  contain  "  light,  fool 
ish  and  unsavory  paragraphs,"  not  becoming  to  the 
colony,  and  he  had  been  compelled  to  surrender  all 
unsold  copies  of  the  publication  for  destruction  by  the 
authorities,  after  being  paid  £4  as  a  douceur.  Now 
he  had  very  much  more  painful  proof  of  the  illiberality 
of  the  government  of  the  Quaker  province  toward  the 
press,  and  being  released  from  custody  through  a 
change  of  administration  (the  jury  had  disagreed 
though  left  for  long  by  the  court  in  a  cold  room  with 
out  food  or  tobacco)  he  made  his  way  in  good  time  to 
New  York,  where  he  became  crown  printer  and  an 
honored  citizen.  So  greatly  valued  were  his  services 
that  the  city  to  which  Philadelphians  banished  him 
found  the  opportunity  in  the  midst  of  our  absorbing 
Civil  War,  on  May  18,  1863,  to  celebrate  the  two  hun 
dredth  anniversary  of  his  birth,  replacing  his  old  and 
broken  tomb  in  Trinity  church-yard  with  a  new  stone, 
amid  ceremonies  which  included  a  procession  of  sur- 
pliced  priests  and  choir  boys,  with  invocations  and  a 
chant  at  the  grave.  All  traffic  ceased  for  a  time  in 
Broadway  by  order  of  the  city  authorities  and  there 


6  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

were  orations  and  receptions,  Pennsylvania  being  repre 
sented  by  a  suitable  delegation  sent  out  by  its  active  and 
useful  Historical  Society. 

As  for  Keith,  he  went  home,  joined  the  Church  of 
England  in  1700,  and  afterward  came  out  to  America 
as  a  missionary  to  convert  the  Quakers  to  his  new 
faith.  In  this  work  he  failed  and  his  reward  seems 
to  have  been  about  as  great  as  was  Benedict  Arnold's 
for  another  kind  of  apostasy. 

For  a  few  years  after  Bradford's  departure  from  an 
ungrateful  community,  Philadelphia  had  no  printing 
press,  which  the  Friends  sorely  regretted.  They  soon 
adopted  measures  to  secure  another  and  one  which 
should  be  under  their  own  management.  They  en 
gaged  a  Hollander,  Reynier  Jansen  by  name,  to  man 
age  the  machinery  and  type  imported  from  England, 
but  their  patronage  was  not  valuable.  The  Friends 
were  never  as  disputatious  in  matters  theological  as 
the  adherents  of  many  sects;  for  example,  the  writers 
of  which  the  Mathers  were  the  chief  in  Massachusetts. 
Nor  were  they  vigorous  as  missionaries.  It  was  their 
object  to  worship  in  peace  in  their  own  way  and  they 
sought  not  to  impose  their  doctrines  upon  other  men 
unwillingly.  The  essential  feature  of  their  faith  being 
the  idea  that  man  could  secure  all  that  was  good  for 
him  to  have  through  an  inward  flash,  they  were  at  first 
not  very  friendly  to  books  or  schools,  and  had  com 
plete  distrust  of  hired  and  ordained  ministers  learned 
in  theology.  Indeed,  the  scholars  among  their  con 
verts  tried  to  rid  themselves  of  their  knowledge  in  a 
curious  effort  to  make  themselves  "  empty  vessels," 
ready  to  receive  the  word  and  do  the  bidding  of  the 
Lord. 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  7 

But  the  doctrines  of  George  Fox,  regarding  the  in 
ward  light  and  the  need  of  turning  the  left  cheek  to 
him  who  should  smite  the  right,  were  not  entirely  suf 
ficient  to  prevent  the  writing  of  tracts  and  books  by 
the  Friends.  These  were  descriptive  of  the  colony, 
designed  to  entice  others  into  the  Quaker  wilderness, 
and  of  a  religious  nature.  The  most  prominent  of  the 
early  Quaker  writers  was  Caleb  Pusey,  who  wrote  de 
fending  the  Society  of  Friends  against  Keith,  and  upon 
other  questions.  He  was  a  native  of  Berkshire,  Eng 
land,  and  originally  had  been  a  Baptist.  He  settled  in 
this  country  in  1682  and  was  visited  by  Penn  in  his 
little  stone  house,  still  standing  on  Chester  Creek  near 
old  Upland,  now  the  city  of  Chester,  the  first  Quaker 
settlement  on  the  Delaware.  Today  in  Delaware 
County,  it  was  earlier  in  Chester  County  and  from 
Pusey,  literary  historians  of  that  county,  so  prolific 
of  distinguished  names  in  American  science  and  let 
ters,  trace  the  record  of  a  kind  of  Athenian  grandeur 
through  Benjamin  West,  Bayard  Taylor,  Thomas 
Buchanan  Read,  George  Lippard,  Daniel  G.  Brinton, 
William  Darlington,  and  other  authors  and  scien 
tists.  He  had  a  prominent  part  in  administering 
the  theocracy  created  under  the  Penn  charters  and  died 
near  Kennett  Square,  in  the  confines  of  the  Chester 
County  of  today,  in  1726  at  the  age  of  seventy-six. 
His  publications  are  of  no  conceivable  interest  at  this 
day  and  his  chief  claim  to  our  attention  is  the  work  he 
performed  in  assembling  much  of  the  material  later 
incorporated  in  Robert  Proud's  History  of  Pennsyl 
vania. 

Pennsylvania's  first  contributor  of  a  vital  writing  to 
that  body  of  literature  which  makes  up  the  Quaker 


8  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

theology,  in  so  far  as  the  Society  can  be  held  to  have 
one,  is  Thomas  Chalkley.  He  came  first  to  Mary 
land  in  1700,  whence  after  a  winter  he  reached  Phila 
delphia,  long  his  home  except  for  his  frequent  adven 
turous,  even  perilous,  journeys  by  land  and  sea  as  a 
missionary,  and  his  absences  in  pursuit  of  his  worldly 
calling  as  a  merchant  and  ship-captain.  He  often 
combined  his  business  with  the  preaching  of  the  Word 
of  God.  He  visited  the  Southern  colonies  and  trav 
elled  unarmed,  alone  or  with  but  one  or  two  compan 
ions,  among  the  Indians  of  New  York  and  New  Eng 
land  at  the  time  waging  relentless  war  upon  the  set 
tlers.  On  such  occasions  he  was  never  molested,  being 
recognized  by  the  savages  as  one  apart  from  other 
white  men.  He  visited  the  Barbadoes  and  the  Ber 
mudas,  and  died  on  the  Island  of  Tortola,  one  of  the 
Virgin  Islands,  while  engaged  in  missionary  service. 
His  home  in  the  later  years  of  his  life  was  near  Frank- 
ford  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware.  He  lived  at  first 
in  an  old-fashioned  brick  house  with  a  hipped  roof  on 
Frankford  Creek,  then  in  "  Chalkley  Hall "  nearby,  a 
fine  large  edifice  long  occupied  by  Mrs.  Edward  Weth- 
erill  until  it  was  despoiled  as  a  country  home  by  the 
erection  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad's  Delaware  River 
bridge.  It  was  of  this  "  old  Abraham  of  Quakerism," 
as  Whittier  called  him,  that  the  Quaker  poet  wrote 
after  visiting  the  "  Hall"  in  1838: — 

"  Far  away  beneath  New  England's  sky, 

E'en  when  a  boy 

Following  my  plough  by  Merrimac's  green  shore, 
His  simple  record  I  have  pondered  o'er 
With  deep  and  quiet  joy." 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  9 

Chalkley's  journal,  which  is  an  interesting  account 
of  his  travels,  was  published  with  some  religious  essays 
in  a  fat  volume,  by  order  of  the  Philadelphia  Monthly 
Meeting  of  Friends,  by  Benjamin  Franklin  in  1749, 
and  it  has  been  reprinted  repeatedly.  The  moral  aus 
terity  of  this  famous  Quaker  preacher  was  not  excelled 
by  any  of  New  England's  early  Puritans.  He  de 
nounced  the  playing  cards,  which  have  amused  men  for 
so  many  centuries,  as  "  engines  of  Satan  "  and  declared 
with  the  Waldenses  that  "  as  many  paces  or  steps  as 
the  man  or  woman  takes  in  the  dance,  so  many  paces 
or  steps  they  take  toward  Hell." 

The  descriptive  writers  of  most  note  at  this  early 
period  were  Jonathan  Dickenson  and  Gabriel  Thomas. 
Dickenson's  work  is  strongly  religious,  as  is  abundantly 
indicated  by  the  name  of  his  best  known  writing, 
"  God's  Protecting  Providence  Man's  Surest  Help  and 
Defence  in  Times  of  the  Greatest  Difficulty  and  Most 
Eminent  Danger."  He  was  an  English  Quaker  of  parts 
who  sailed  with  his  family  and  slaves  for  Pennsylvania 
by  way  of  Jamaica,  being  wrecked  upon  the  Florida 
coasts.  He  finally  reached  Philadelphia,  himself  and 
retinue  intact,  escaping  the  "  devouring  waves  of  the 
sea  "  and  the  "  devouring  jaws  of  inhumane  cannibals," 
later  to  become  Chief  Justice  of  the  province.  His 
moving  narrative  has  been  reprinted  many  times  and  it 
has  been  translated  into  at  least  one  foreign  tongue, 
the  Dutch. 

Gabriel  Thomas  was  the  representative  of  another 
type  of  Quaker,  not  too  drab  of  color,  probably  the 
first  Pennsylvania  humorist.  After  living  in  Philadel 
phia  for  seventeen  years  he  visited  London  and  pub 
lished  in  1698  "An  Historical  and  Geographical  Ac- 


io  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

count  of  the  Province  and  Country  of  Pennsylvania 
and  of  West  Jersey."  It  is  a  very  seductive  descrip 
tion  of  "  this  noble  spot  of  earth  "  to  which  Penn  and 
his  friends  had  come,  where  the  air  was  found  to  be  as 
"  delicate,  pleasant  and  wholesome "  as  in  France. 
Thomas  discovered  here  the  bull  frog  which  "  makes 
a  roaring  noise  hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  that 
well  known  of  the  beast  from  whom  it  takes  its  name;" 
and  "  that  wonder  of  stones,  the  salamander-stone, 
found  near  Brandywine  River,  having  cotton  veins 
within  it  which  will  not  consume  in  the  fire  though  held 
there  a  long  time," —  a  bland  description  of  the  pecu 
liar  properties  of  asbestos  ore.  The  social  state  of  the 
new  colony  did  not  escape  his  attention.  "  Of  lawyers 
and  physicians  I  shall  say  nothing,"  our  writer  explains, 
"  because  this  country  is  very  peaceable  and  healthy. 
Long  may  it  so  continue  and  never  have  occasion  for 
the  tongue  of  the  one  or  the  pen  of  the  other,  both 
equally  destructive  of  men's  estates  and  lives." 

Of  many  Englishmen  in  the  colony  in  the  early  time 
whose  literary  activity  was  confined  to  the  reading  of 
books,  translation  from  the  classics,  verse-making  and 
the  writing  of  essays  and  private  journals,  there  were 
none  so  worthy  of  note  as  Thomas  Lloyd  and  James 
Logan.  Lloyd  was  an  Oxford  graduate  and  reached 
Philadelphia  in  1683,  being  Penn's  principal  repre 
sentative  in  the  colony  for  several  years.  He  it  was 
to  whom  the  founder  wrote  on  shipboard,  when  re 
turning  to  England  in  1684,  this  parting  message  for 
communication  to  the  colonists:  "  And  thou  Philadel 
phia,  the  virgin  settlement  of  this  province  named  be 
fore  thou  wert  born,  what  love,  what  care,  what  service 
and  what  travail  has  there  been  to  bring  thee  forth  and 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  11 

preserve  thee  from  such  as  would  abuse  and  defile 
thee." 

Lloyd  with  Penn  had  the  city's  greatest  good  at 
heart  and  combatted  all  defilement  by  those  not  nursed 
at  the  breast  and  baptized  in  the  spirit  of  the  place. 
He  became  involved  prominently  in  the  proceedings 
taken  against  Keith  and  died  in  1694. 

Logan  was  born  in  Ireland  of  Scotch  parents  and 
although  without  the  university  training  of  Lloyd,  he 
had  been  well  schooled  in  Greek,  Latin  and  Hebrew 
while  still  a  young  boy.  He  came  out  as  Penn's  sec 
retary  in  1699,  on  the  founder's  second  visit  to  the 
colony,  and  was  left  in  charge  of  the  proprietor's  in 
terests  in  America.  Right  faithfully  and  well  was  his 
task  performed.  Logan  was  entrusted  with  many  high 
offices  by  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  and  he  became 
a  citizen  of  great  value  to  the  country.  Breaking  a 
thigh  bone  when  still  not  an  old  man,  he  was  crippled 
for  life  and  retired  for  his  literary  pursuits  to  his  estate 
of  five  hundred  acres,  five  miles  outside  the  town,  at 
Stenton,  the  mansion  upon  it  near  Wayne  Junction  in 
Germantown  being  still  today  one  of  the  principal  points 
of  historical  interest  in  Philadelphia.  There  he  re 
ceived  large  deputations  of  Indians  who  camped  for 
days  at  a  time  upon  his  estate,  made  treaties,  leased 
and  sold  lands,  and  conferred  with  his  fellow  law 
givers  of  the  province.  He  corresponded  with  the 
principal  scholars  of  Europe  in  English  and  Latin  inter 
changeably;  accumulated  many  books,  the  foundation 
of  the  Loganian  Library,  now  a  part  of  the  Philadel 
phia  Library;  interested  himself  in  the  natural  sciences; 
published  treatises  on  serious  subjects  in  America  and 
Europe  and  translated  several  classical  writings.  His 


12  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

published  work  in  the  classics  includes  his  rather  fa 
mous  rendering  of  Cicero's  "  Cato  Major,  or  Dis 
course  on  Old  Age,"  printed  by  Franklin,  and  his 
translation  of  "  Cato's  Moral  Distichs  "  into  English 
verse.  Much  of  his  work  which  was  not  published  has 
been  handed  down  to  us  in  manuscript. 

His  grandson,  Dr.  George  Logan,  of  Stenton,  who 
was  for  a  term  a  United  States  Senator  from  Pennsyl 
vania,  a  sympathizer  with  the  French  revolutionists, 
and  a  democrat  of  the  most  radical  and  fervent  variety, 
being  as  much  of  a  people  lover  as  his  grandfather 
was  an  aristocrat,  married  Deborah,  a  granddaughter 
of  Perm's  friend,  Isaac  Norris.  It  was  for  Debby 
Norris  that  Sally  Wister  wrote  the  sprightly  and  en 
tertaining  journal  which  is  so  much  enjoyed  by  readers 
of  this  day. 

It  was  reserved  for  Deborah  Logan  to  rescue 
James  Logan's  letters  and  manuscripts  from  rats,  the 
mould  and  general  oblivion.  At  great  pains  this  re 
markable  woman  copied  thousands  of  pages  which  she 
found  in  the  cubby-holes  and  other  garret  rooms  at 
Stenton,  interpolating  many  personal  remarks  and  ex 
planations.  This  manuscript  is  now  in  safe  keeping 
in  the  fireproofs  of  Philadelphia  libraries  and  is  an  en 
during  monument  to  the  name  of  Logan  in  Pennsyl 
vania. 

Although  we  are  anticipating,  it  may  here  be  noted 
that  Mrs.  Logan's  services  as  an  historian  were  con 
siderable,  and  to  verify  facts  and  secure  reminiscences 
of  people  and  events  of  the  past,  John  F.  Watson,  the 
annalist,  who  lived  in  Germantown,  long  made  daily 
visits  to  the  mistress  of  Stenton,  then  in  the  autumn 
of  her  life.  Deborah  Logan  wrote  some  verse  which 


JAMES     LOGAN 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  13 

would  have  rung  well  in  the  century  in  which  her 
grandfather  lived,  so  little  prolific  in  America  of  good 
or  even  mediocre  poetry.  She  enjoyed  the  sonnet,  a 
form,  however,  she  remarked,  which  seemed  "  to  put 
the  muse  into  corsets."  Imitative  in  her  style  in  a 
striking  degree  and  without  much  fancy,  this  good  old 
Philadelphia  Quakeress,  gifted  in  an  unusual  way  with 
an  interest  in  literary  affairs  and  the  love  of  truth  in 
research,  and  as  a  commentator,  left  much  by  which  she 
will  be  remembered  in  her  own  city,  if  not  in  a  larger 
field.* 

The  Quakers,  if  their  leaders  really  wished  to  cen- 
sorize  the  issues  of  Bradford's  press  and  drive  him  to 
more  favoring  neighborhoods,  were  not  long  to  be  rid 
of  him,  for  in  1712  his  son  Andrew,  a  young  man  who 
had  been  born  in  Philadelphia,  returned  to  that  city 
with  the  encouragement  and  pecuniary  support  of  his 
father,  setting  up  a  press  which  enjoyed  the  direction 
of  members  of  the  Bradford  family  until  we  were  well 
forward  in  the  nineteenth  century.  In  addition  to  the 
printing  and  selling  of  books,  pamphlets  and  tracts 
Andrew  Bradford  began  in  1719  the  publication  of  the 
"  American  Weekly  Mercury,"  the  first  newspaper  to 
be  issued  in  the  Middle  Colonies  and  the  third  in  the 
British  Provinces  in  America.  Andrew  Bradford's 
operations  on  several  occasions  were  censorized,  as  his 
father's  had  been,  and  once  his  home  and  printing  office 
were  searched  and  he  was  put  into  prison  for  some 
harmless  criticism  uttered  against  the  government. 

For  a  time,  near  the  end  of  his  life,  he  had  associ 
ated  with  him  in  his  business  his  nephew  William 

*  Mrs.  Logan  was  the  first  woman  to  be  elected  to  membership  in 
the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 


I4  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

Bradford.  The  latter' s  aunt,  Andrew  Bradford's  wife 
by  a  second  union,  was  an  ambitious  matchmaker  and 
desired  to  marry  him  to  one  of  her  young  kinswomen. 
Such  an  alliance  being  against  the  youth's  inclinations, 
he  soon  went  to  England,  visiting  the  Sowles,  his  rel 
atives  in  London,  who  were  still  engaged  in  the  pub 
lishing  business,  a  season  of  experience  and  observation 
of  vast  value  to  him  in  his  future  career  in  Philadelphia. 
This  William  Bradford  became  the  most  prominent 
and  useful  of  the  name  in  Pennsylvania.  His  uncle 
dying,  his  aunt  carried  on  the  business  for  a  time  as 
Cornelia  Bradford;  but  to  William  the  trade  of  the 
house  descended.  His  book-shop  and  printing-office 
were  situated  first  in  Second  Street  between  Chestnut 
and  Market  Streets,  and  then  at  the  corner  of  Front 
and  Market  Streets,  opposite  that  interesting  centre  of 
trade,  gossip  and  information,  the  London  Coffee 
House.  In  this  neighborhood  all  the  printing  houses 
and  publishing  offices  of  the  time  were  situated. 

In  1742  Bradford  began  the  publication  of  the 
"  Pennsylvania  Journal,"  which  soon  outdistanced 
Franklin's  "  Pennsylvania  Gazette,"  already  established 
for  thirteen  years,  both  by  reason  of  its  quality  as  a 
newspaper  and  the  business  energy  of  its  editor  and 
proprietor,  who  numbered  among  his  subscribers  be 
fore  and  during  the  Revolution  the  leading  planters, 
merchants,  statesmen,  soldiers  and  literati  in  all  parts 
of  America.  This  paper  in  the  hands  of  himself  and 
his  descendants  lived  for  nearly  sixty  years  and  its  pub 
lication  was  continued  into  the  nineteenth  century  by  a 
member  of  the  family  as  the  "  True  American." 

While  the  Bradford  press  secured  much  Quaker  pat 
ronage,  the  Society  gave  not  a  little  of  its  favor  to 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  15 

Samuel  Keimer,  an  odd,  adventurous  and  entirely  pre 
posterous  person,  who  began  to  print  in  Philadelphia 
early  in  the  eighteenth  century.  By  some  he  is  re 
garded  as  the  city's  first  publisher,  others  who  preceded 
him  being  dismissed  as  mere  printers.  He  reprinted 
Steele's  "  Crisis  "  and  issued  a  translation  of  Epictetus 
on  Morals  which  is  thought  to  have  been  the  first 
published  translation  of  a  classical  writing  in  the  col 
onies. 

The  Society  of  Friends  early  in  the  twenties  invited 
Keimer  to  reprint  Sewel's  "  History  of  the  People  Called 
Quakers  "  which  had  just  appeared  in  England.  They 
had  first  suggested  the  work  to  Bradford,  but  he  hesi 
tated  and  decided  at  length  to  import  the  book. 
Keimer  meantime  received  the  contract,  sought  sub 
scriptions,  procured  new  type  and  finally,  after  nearly 
five  years,  put  his  book  upon  the  market  to  find  that 
Bradford  had  supplied  it  with  the  English  edition,  that 
Franklin  had  maligned  and  sneered  him  out  of  public 
confidence  and  respect;  wherefore,  his  money  gone,  he 
left  the  city  for  the  West  Indies.  Franklin  soon  pro 
cured  the  newspaper  Keimer  had  established  in  1728, 
the  "  Universal  Instructor  in  all  Arts  and  Sciences  and 
Pennsylvania  Gazette,"  and  converted  it  into  the  "  Penn 
sylvania  Gazette  "  to  become  a  better  newspaper  than 
the  colony  had  yet  known,  but  one  to  which  he  never 
gave  much  of  himself.  For  this  reason  its  rivals  soon 
compelled  it  to  occupy  a  secondary  place  among  the 
journals  of  Philadelphia. 

It  has  not  been  fair  in  the  past,  nor  is  it  just  today 
to  leave  out  of  account  the  intellectual  activity  of  the 
Germans,  who  so  soon  followed  the  Quakers  to  Penn 
sylvania.  Through  the  recent  researches  of  indus- 


16  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

trious  antiquarians  *  justice  is  being  done  to  the  mem 
ory  of  men  like  Pastorius,  Kelpius,  Beissel,  Sower  and 
Christopher  Dock.  They  spoke,  wrote  and  printed  in 
another  and  a  despised  language.  Indeed,  many  of 
them  were  fluent  masters  of  several  languages,  Latin, 
Greek,  French  and  other  tongues  as  well  as  of  their 
own  German  (they  were  the  flower  of  the  Continental 
universities)  ;  wherefore  they  were  not  understood  by 
the  English  colonists,  for  the  most  part  men  of  less 
erudition.  There  wras  a  vast  amount  of  ignorance 
among  the  German  immigrants,  but  some  of  the  lead 
ers  of  the  sects  that  had  come  here  because  of  the  re 
ligious  freedom  to  be  enjoyed  in  Pennsylvania,  were 
scholars  of  uncommon  talent.  Their  interest  was 
chiefly  given  to  hymn  books,  Bibles  and  devotional 
works,  but  they  issued  controversial  tracts  and  sermons, 
and  in  the  development  of  the  printer's  and  bookbind 
er's  art,  were  at  first  not  behind  their  English  rivals. 
Their  well-educated  leaders  died  and  they  later  be 
came  a  people  noted  for  much  stupidity,  losing  their 
command  of  a  written  language,  and  indeed  being  sat 
isfied  to  communicate  with  each  other  through  the  me 
dium  of  a  hybridized  German-English  dialect;  but  they 
began  well  and  by  their  services  to  letters  in  Philadel 
phia  and  its  neighborhood  are  entitled  to  place  in  any 
record  of  the  city's  literary  activities. 

The  earliest  of  the  German  immigrants,  also  the 
most  deserving  of  our  remembrance  in  the  history  of 
the  city's  literary  past,  was  Francis  Daniel  Pastorius, 
Whittier's  "  Pennsylvania  Pilgrim,"  who  settled  in 
Germantown  soon  after  the  "  Welcome  "  brought  the 

*For  what  is  said  here  about  the  Pennsylvania  Germans,  the 
writer  is  principally  indebted  to  the  studies  of  Samuel  W.  Penny- 
packer,  Julius  F.  Sachse  and  Oswald  Seidensticker. 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  17 

first  Quakers  up  the  Delaware.     He  came  hither  on 
the  same  ship  as  Thomas  Lloyd  with  whom  he  con 
versed  in  Latin,   likewise  writing  verses  which  were 
dedicated  to  the  English  Quaker's  winsome  daughters 
who  accompanied  him  to  America.     Beyond  question, 
Pastorius   had   greater   literary   attainments   than    any 
Englishman    who    came    to    settle    in    the    colony    at 
that  early  day.     His  grandfather,  a  man  of  education 
and  social  position,  was  driven  out  of  Erfurt,  Germany, 
by   Gustavus   Adolphus,    dying   of   the    exposure   and 
brutal  flogging  administered  to  him  and  his  family  by 
that  Northern  crusader.     A  son,  Melchior  Adam,  the 
father  of  Francis  Daniel,  graduated  as  a  Doctor  of 
Literature  in  Rome  and  gave  his  children  the  best  edu 
cational  opportunities  afforded  to  young  men  of  that 
day  upon  the  continent.     Francis  Daniel  studied  at  the 
Universities  of  Strasburg,  Jena  and  Basle,  graduating 
in  law  at  Altdorf.     He  came  to  Pennsylvania  by  the 
usual  route  —  via  Cologne,  Rotterdam  and  London  — 
in  1683  when  thirty-two  years  of  age,  attracted  to  the 
colony  by  reason  of  Penn's  travels  beyond  the  Rhine. 
He  represented  a  German  land  company  and  was  the 
founder   of   that    actively   intellectual    and    now    truly 
beautiful  suburb  of  Philadelphia,  Germantown.     That 
employment  being  little  lucrative  and  later  failing  him 
altogether,   he  became  a   conveyancer,   legal  scrivener 
and  teacher.     In    1688,   in   disgust  with  his  learning 
and  the  Philistinism  of  the  world  through  which  he 
must  pursue  his  way  with  what  often  seemed  to  him 
to  be  very  useless  baggage  (it  all  sounds  very  modern) 
he  wrote  to  a  friend  in  Germany:    "I  myself  would 
give  one  hundred  rix  dollars  if  the  time  I  wasted  upon 
learning  the  Sperling  physic  and  metaphysics  and  other 


i8  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

unnecessary  sophistical  argumentationes  and  argiiitiones, 
I  had  devoted  to  engineer  work  or  to  book  printing, 
which  would  have  been  useful  and  valuable  to  me  and 
to  my  fellow  Christians,  rather  than  to  physics,  meta 
physics  and  Aristotelian  Elenchi  and  Sylochismi  by 
which  no  savage  or  heathen  can  be  brought  to  God, 
much  less  a  piece  of  bread  can  be  procured." 

Pastorius  composed  verses  in  Latin,  German  and 
English,  and  it  is  said  could  also  speak,  read  and  write 
Greek,  French,  Dutch,  Italian  and  Spanish.  Before 
the  Friends  in  Philadelphia  had  yet  become  aroused 
to  the  evils  of  slavery  he,  with  some  of  his  neighbors 
in  Germantown,  protested  against  the  "  traffick  of 
mens-body,"  especially  as  it  concerned  the  selling  of 
Indians  to  planters  in  the  Barbadoes.  Pastorius  left 
in  all  seven  printed  writings,  among  them  a  primer,  the 
first  school  book  to  be  prepared  by  an  American  writer 
and  published  in  the  colonies.  His  unpublished  works 
numbered  forty-three,  including  the  manuscript  of  the 
famous  "  Alvearium  "  or  "  Bee  Hive,"  a  vast  encyclo 
pedic  collection  of  matter  in  many  languages,  compiled 
for  the  benefit  of  his  children,  of  which  Whittier 
wrote : — 

"  At  evening,  while  his  wife  put  on  her  look 
Of  love's  endurance,  from  its  niche  he  took 
The  written  pages  of  his  ponderous  book. 

"  And  read  in  half  the  languages  of  man 
His  '  Rusca  Apium,'  which  with  bees  began 
And  through  the  gamut  of  creation  ran." 

This  work  is  still  in  the  hands  of  his  descendants, 
having  lately  been  deposited  with  the  University  of 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  19 

Pennsylvania,  and  local  historians  have  suggested  the 
printing  of  it  in  a  number  of  volumes.  "  Honey  is 
money/'  Pastorius  said,  for  which  reason  he  committed 
the  writing  to  the  attention  and  reading  of  his  chil 
dren, —  observing  that  "  a  bee  may  gather  honey  and 
spider  poison  from  the  same  flower";  that  "  the  drip 
pings  of  the  house  eaves  in  time  make  a  hole  in  a  hard 
stone,"  and  that  "  it  is  very  bad  cloath  that  by  often 
dipping  will  take  no  colour."  This  book  is  a  proof  of 
the  industry  and  diligence  of  the  author,  if  it  testify 
little  as  to  the  literary  value  of  his  work.  He  was, 
however,  a  strong  and  forceful  writer  upon  many  sub 
jects.  He  was  observant;  he  had  humor,  sincerity  and 
remarkable  range.  The  feeling  and  strength  which  he 
could  impart  when  upon  a  religious  subject  is  evi 
denced  by  an  extract  from  a  letter  to  a  friend  he  had 
left  behind  him  in  Germany.  After  describing  some 
of  the  discomforts  of  life  in  the  wilderness  as  compared 
with  the  pleasure  of  stone  houses  and  the  "  agreeable 
food  and  drink  "  of  Germany,  he  continued : — 

"If  these  above-mentioned  considerations  do  not 
seem  too  hard  to  you,  then  go,  the  sooner  the  better, 
out  of  the  European  Sodom  and  think  then  of  Lot's 
wife  who  indeed  went  forward  with  her  feet  but  left 
behind  her  heart  and  inclinations.  Oh,  worthy  friend, 
I  wish  indeed  that  with  this  eagle's  plume  [he  wrote 
with  a  quill  from  an  American  eagle]  I  could  express 
to  you  the  love  I  feel  for  you  and  indeed  convince  you 
that  it  is  not  a  mere  lip-love  but  one  which  wishes 
more  good  to  you  than  to  myself.  My  heart  is  bound 
unto  yours  in  a  bond  of  love.  Let  us  now  grow  to 
gether  like  trees  which  the  right  hand  of  God  has 
planted  by  streams  of  water  so  that  we  bjing  forth  not 


20  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

only  leaves  but  fruit  at  the  proper  time  —  the  fruit  of 
repentance,  the  fruit  of  peace,  the  fruit  of  justice. 
For  of  what  advantage  is  such  a  useless  tree  ?  Although 
the  Gardener  spares  it  for  some  years  longer,  digs  and 
works  about  it  with  all  care,  he  at  last,  when  it  shows 
no  improvement,  cuts  it  down  and  casts  it  into  the 
fire." 

Pastorius  was  a  vigorous  advocate  of  his  "  German- 
opolis,"  as  he  called  his  settlement  in  the  new  world, 
and  looked  not  back  as  did  the  wife  of  Lot.  He  had 
left  the  "  German  land  "  with  others,  as  he  wrote  in 
Latin  in  the  Germantown  Grund  und  Lager-Buch, 
Whittier  translating  it: — 

"  And  where  the  wild  beast  roams 

In  patience  planned 
New  forest  homes  beyond  the  mighty  sea, 

There  undisturbed  and  free 
To  live  as  brothers  of  one  family." 

Two  of  the  noblest  architectural  monuments  of  col 
onial  Philadelphia,  Old  Swedes*  Church  (Gloria  Dei), 
overlooking  the  shores  and  wharves  of  the  Delaware  in 
a  southern  portion  of  the  city,  long  ago  abandoned  as 
a  place  of  residence  by  the  intellectual  and  the  fash 
ionable;  and  Christ  Church  on  Second  Street,  near  Mar 
ket  Street,  are  remarkable  today  for  their  great  age. 
When  Evangeline  landed  in  Philadelphia  — 

"  Distant  and  soft  on  her  ear  fell  the  chimes  from  the  belfry  of 

Christ  Church, 
While    intermingled    with    these   across   the   meadows   were 

wafted 

Sounds  of  psalms  that  were  sung  by  the  Swedes  in   their 
church  at  Wicaco." 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  21 

But  those  edifices  had  not  yet  been  built  and  there 
were  only  Quaker  meetings  in  Philadelphia  when  a 
number  of  oddly  clad  Germans  in  long  coarse  robes, 
leaning  upon  their  pilgrim  staffs,  appeared  in  the 
streets  of  the  city.  They  were  objects  of  a  vast  amount 
of  curiosity.  Their  leader,  Zimmerman,  had  died  be 
fore  they  had  embarked  for  America  and  Johannes 
Kelpius  became  their  maglster.  Proceeding  to  Ger- 
mantown  they  found  Pastorius  and  his  settlers  too 
worldly  for  their  tastes  and  sought  homes  among  the 
steep  cliffs  and  dark  glades  overstrewn  with  boulders 
and  upgrown  with  hemlocks,  in  the  valley  of  the  Wissa- 
hickon,  now  penetrated  by  the  most  beautiful  public 
drive  in  the  environs  of  any  city  in  the  world.  The  pil 
grims  found  their  tastes  gratified  here  in  the  wildest 
solitude  — 

"  Where  thy  sweetly  murm'ring  river 

In  its  glad  play 

To  the  woods  that  round  thee  quiver 
Weaves  a  fond  lay. 

"  Where  the  wild  bird  loves  to  listen 

On  its  still  wing 
As  thy  silvery  waters  glisten, 
And  sweetly  sing."  * 

These  Germans  called  themselves  "  The  Contented 
of  the  God  Fearing  Soul "  and  were  usually  known  to 
other  men  as  "  The  Society  of  the  Woman  in  the  Wil 
derness,"  a  name  which  was  derived  from  the  twelfth 
chapter  of  Revelation.  They  reached  Philadelphia  in 
1694  and  confidently  awaited  the  Millennium,  which 

*Miss  Waterman  on  "Revisiting  the  Wissahickon  "  in  "Gentle 
man's  Magazine  "  Vol.  Ill,  p.  166. 


22  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

they  believed  would  arrive  in  1700.  These  German 
mystics,  Kelpius,  Koster,  the  Falkners,  Dr.  Christopher 
Witt  and  others,  for  a  time  had  a  kind  of  cloister  or 
tabernacle  upon  the  western  bank  of  the  Wissahickon  in 
what  they  already  called  u  Rocksborrow." 

"  A  mound-like  hill  covered  with  a  strange  edifice 
built  of  stone  with  steep  roofs  and  many  windows  and 
a  garden  blooming  far  down  into  the  glen.  That  is 
the  monastery  in  which  the  monks  of  Wissahikon  long 
ago  worshipped  God  without  a  creed."  Thus  in  "  The 
Rose  of  Wissahikon "  wrote  George  Lippard,  the 
novelist,  who  used  to  wander  lovingly  over  the  ruins 
of  this  strange  house.  Leaving  their  cloister  the  pil 
grims  repaired  often  to  caves  and  cabins  where  in 
prayerful  solitude  and  some  physical  suffering  they 
awaited  manifestations  of  the  Divine  will.  From 
Whittier  we  hear  of 

"  Painful  Kelpius,  from  his  hermit  den 
By  Wissahickon,  maddest  of  good  men." 

But  Kelpius  may  not  have  been  as  mad  as  he  seemed, 
since  he  and  many  of  his  associates  were  men  of  uni 
versity  training  and  great  erudition.  They  knew  sev 
eral  languages  and  experimented  in  the  sciences. 
Their  folly  was  religious  and  the  Pietists  were  but  a 
few  degrees  farther  advanced  on  the  way  of  strange 
worship  than  the  members  of  other  sects  that  arose  in 
such  numbers  in  Europe,  rapidly  to  send  their  repre 
sentatives  to  the  shores  of  America.  The  Wissa 
hickon  mystics  cultivated  herbs  in  their  gardens, 
practiced  medicine,  experimented  in  alchemy,  seeking 
an  elixir  of  life,  studied  mathematics  and  astronomy, 
and,  without  cost,  imparted  education  to  the  children 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  23 

of  Germantown.  Kelpius  died  at  thirty-five,  having 
contracted  consumption  while  seeking  communion  with 
God  in  his  cold  cave.  The  community  was  dispersed, 
a  few  members  continuing  for  years  to  occupy  their 
lonely  cabins  and  becoming  widely  known  among  un 
believers  as  the  "  Hermits  of  the  Ridge."  One  of  their 
number,  Dr.  Christopher  Witt,  removed  to  German- 
town,  where  he  planted  a  botanical  garden,  enjoying 
the  friendship  of  John  Bartram,  and  noted  botanists  in 
Europe.  He  also  manufactured  clocks,  viewed  the 
stars  through  a  telescope  and  cured  disease  with  his 
herbs  and  quicksets.  Unlike  Kelpius,  the  regimen 
seemed  to  favor  him  and  this  old  ascetic  lived  to  be 
ninety  years  old. 

When  the  effects  of  these  curious  men  were  distrib 
uted,  many  of  their  old  tomes  upon  ancient  and  me 
diaeval  learning  found  their  way  to  Christ  Church,  where 
they  are  still  to  be  seen  in  a  room  in  the  tower,  having 
survived  the  search  for  gun  wadding  by  British  and 
Revolutionists  and  the  insects  that  in  other  centuries  as 
in  this  have  been  no  respecters  of  books. 

A  rival  body  of  German  mystics,  seceders  from  the 
Dunker  church,  early  established  a  community  at  Eph- 
rata  in  Lancaster  County.  These  men,  led  by  Conrad 
Beissel,  an  ignorant  man  (he  had  been  a  journeyman 
baker  in  a  small  town  in  Germany),  sought  spiritual 
regeneration  in  monkish  life  in  what  they  called  "  The 
Community  of  the  Solitary."  Beissel,  whatever  his 
limitations,  had  the  power  to  lead,  preach  and  write, 
and  he  numbered  in  his  group  hymnists,  linguists, 
printers  and  bookbinders.  A  cloister  was  built,  the 
remains  of  which  are  still  to  be  seen,  and  the  religious 
experiment  concerns  this  narrative  only  as  it  served  to 


24  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

develop  literary  interest  on  this  continent  both  inde 
pendently  and  in  connection  with  the  leaders  at  Ger- 
mantcma.  A  friend  of  Beissel's  in  Germany,  Christo 
pher  Saur  (soon  spelled  Saucr  and  later  Sower),  had 
come  to  this  country  and  after  briefly  visiting  Phila 
delphia,  also  settled  in  Lancaster  County,  where  he  be 
came  a  farmer.  Sower's  wife  left  him  to  join  Beissel's 
mystics,  who  were  of  both  sexes,  and  deprived  of  her 
aid,  he  gave  up  the  life  of  a  frontier  husbandman,  re 
moving  in  1731  with  his  ten-year-old  son  Christopher 
to  Germantown,  to  earn  his  living  at  a  trade.  He  be 
came  a  dockmaker,  but  had  various  vocations,  as  the 
place  was  then  too  small  well  to  support  him  at  a  single 
pursuit.  He  affiliated  with  the  Dunkers  in  whose  little 
•••fftmg  house  on  the  Main  Street  a  brass  tablet  to  the 
memory  of  the  first  and  second  Christopher  Sower  was 
placed  in  1899.  ^s  religious  friends  urged  him  to 
set  up  a  printing  press.  He  procured  type  in  Europe 
for  a  German  4i  Buchdruckery n  and  was  soon  well 
fiinMJM*!  with  the  facilities  for  publishing  tracts,  al 
manacs,  newspapers  and  books.  The  Sowers  became 
to  the  Germans  what  the  Bradfords  had  been  and  still 
were  to  the  FugliA  colonists. 

On  account  of  his  relations  with  the  Ephrata  com 
munity,  the  Gennantown  printer  was  commissioned  to 
publish  a  collection  of  650  hymns,  many  of  them  com 
posed  by  Beissel  and  the  Ephrata  brethren,  and  chris 
tened  incomprehensibly  (to  all  Englishmen  at  least) 
the  "Weyrauchs  Hugel "  (literally  Mountain  of 
Prayer).  This  work  was  successfully  accomplished, 
though  not  without  unhappy  disagreements,  since 
Sower  thus  early  attempted  to  exercise  the  publisher's 
privilege  of  censorizing  his  author's  manuscript,  the 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  15 

beginning  of  a  dispute  that  led  to  the  establishment  of 
a  separate  press  at  Ephrata. 

Sower,  following  the  example  of  the  English  pub 
lishers,  soon  had  his  almanac,  and  on  August  20,  1739, 
began  to  issue  the  first  successful  German  newspaper  in 
America,  a  small  publication  of  four  pages,  "  Der 
Hoch  Deutsch  Pensylvanische  Geschicht-Schreiber,"  a 
name  afterward  changed  to  the  "  Pensylvanische  Be- 
richte,"  and  still  later  "  Die  Germantauner  Zeitung/' 
Franklin  had  started  a  German  paper  in  1732,  but 
the  undertaking  failed,  like  many  of  the  enterprises  of 
so  active  a  projector  and  organizer,  although  today  we 
are  prone  to  suppose  that  his  association  with  any 
movement  meant  its  imtiuidiatg  success.  This  paper, 
called  i%  Die  Philadelphische  Zeitung,"  was  to  be  an 
edited  translation  of  Franklin's  Fngjish  paper,  the 
"  Gazette,"  by  Louis  Timothee,  afterward  the  first 
librarian  of  the  Philadelphia  Library.  It  had  a  very 
brief  life  and  the  field  was  ripe  for  the  harvest  when 
Sower,  seven  years  later,  asked  the  support  of  the  Ger 
man  colonists  for  his  joumaL 

Sower's  greatest  performance,  however,  was  his 
Bible.  He  issued  three  editions,  in  1743,  1763  and 
1776,  before  there  was  another  reprint  of  the  Scrip 
tures  in  any  European  language  upon  this  mniingnt. 
Then  in  1782  Robert  Aitken,  also  a  Philadelphia  pub 
lisher,  issued  the  first  American  edition  in  the  English 
tongue.  It  is  true  that  William  Bradford,  as  early  as 
in  1687,  had  proposed  an  edition  to  the  Friends;  but 
his  suggestion  came  to  naught,  and  to  Sower  must  the 
credit  be  given  for  what  was,  for  the  time,  a  very  im 
portant  achievement  in  publishing.  He  advertised  his 
undertaking  in  his  almanac  and  newspaper,  and  spread 


26  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

prospectuses  through  the  country  by  the  teamsters,  as 
they  travelled  the  Pennsylvania  roads  past  the  German 
farmhouses.  Each  subscriber  was  to  pay  a  half  crown 
in  advance,  since  because  of  a  lack  of  capital  he  was 
compelled  to  "  borrow,"  as  he  expressed  it,  to  carry  on 
his  ambitious  work.  He  explained  that  the  paper 
alone  would  cost  seven  shillings  six  pence  for  each 
Bible.  The  book  when  completed  would  be  sold  at 
twelve  shillings,  unbound,  with  an  extra  charge  for  the 
binding,  according  to  the  kind  of  leather  used  and  the 
quality  of  the  workmanship.  Bradford,  it  is  to  be 
noted,  had  proposed  to  sell  his  Bible  at  twenty  shillings 
to  subscribers  and  twenty-six  shillings  to  other  pur 
chasers. 

Sower  began  printing  in  1742,  having  imported 
much  new  type  from  Frankfort-on-the-Main.  The 
work  was  carried  on,  it  is  said,  in  a  building  behind  his 
home  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  a  house  numbered 
5253  Main  Street.  The  paper,  which  was  an  item  of 
cost  of  so  much  importance,  was  at  the  time  difficult 
to  procure.  There  were  but  two  or  three  paper  mills 
in  the  colony,  the  oldest  of  these  having  been  es 
tablished  by  William  Ryttinghuisen,  a  Mennonite 
preacher  from  Holland  and  the  grandfather  of  David 
Rittenhouse,  the  ingenious  inventor  and  astronomer  of 
the  Revolutionary  period.  It  stood  in  a  little  glade, 
the  path  of  a  rivulet  called  "  Paper  Mill  Run  "  that 
trickles  into  the  Wissahickon  through  what  is  now  a 
part  of  Germantown  and  near  the  spot  where  the  her 
mits  had  their  caves,  but  upon  the  other  bank  of  the 
stream.  Each  sheet  of  paper  must  be  made  separately 
from  rags  pounded  to  a  pulp  by  trip  hammers  in  stone 
mortars.  Three  men  in  a  day  could  produce  only  four 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  27 

and  a  half  reams  of  sheets  measuring  twenty  by  thirty 
inches.  Being  scarce,  Franklin  not  seldom  monopo 
lized  the  supply  and  other  printers  must  pay  him  an 
exorbitant  price.  Sower,  it  is  said,  solicited  rags  from 
the  people  for  at  least  some  of  the  paper  needed  for 
his  Bible.  He  made  the  ink  from  linseed  oil  expressed 
at  Ephrata,  which  was  mixed  with  soot  from  the  chim 
neys  of  Germantown,  boiling  the  ingredients  in  a  vat 
in  a  meadow  where  the  fumes  would  not  offend  the 
sense  of  smell  of  the  citizens.  Four  pages  were 
laboriously  printed  at  a  time  upon  a  handpress,  the 
paper  being  then  hung  from  poles  to  dry.  The  work 
was  a  quarto  of  1267  pages  and  it  was  finished  in  one 
year  and  a  half.  As  he  saw  his  work  ended,  it  is  said 
that  the  pious  old  Dunker  publisher  crossed  his  hands 
over  his  breast,  raised  his  eyes,  and  exclaimed,  "  Thank 
God,  it  is  finished.'7 

The  book  was  no  sooner  completed  than  Henry  Mel- 
chior  Muhlenberg,  the  prominent  Lutheran  leader,  sent 
out  from  Halle,  usually  called  the  "  Patriarch  "  to  dis 
tinguish  him  from  his  three  sons  who  were  also  well- 
known  divines,  attacked  it,  charging  that  Sower  had 
interpolated  a  number  of  theological  observations  of 
his  own.  This  dispute  raged  hotly  and  it  was  nineteen 
years  before  the  first  edition  of  1200  copies  was  sold. 
The  first  Christopher  Sower  was  then  five  years  dead 
and  ensuing  issues  were  made  by  his  only  son  Christo 
pher  Sower  2d. 

Soon  the  Sowers  printed  in  the  English  language,  as 
well  as  in  German.  They  made  a  reprint  in  1749  of 
Thomas  a  Kempis.  The  motto  of  the  house,  "  To  the 
Glory  of  God  and  for  the  Good  of  Mankind,"  appeared 
upon  many  publications,  and  its  service  to  American 


28  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

letters  in  the  eighteenth  century  in  Pennsylvania  is  not 
to  be  estimated  lightly. 

The  Dunkers  were  non-combatants  and  their  course 
in  the  Revolutionary  War  caused  them  to  be  regarded 
with  suspicion  by  zealous  patriots.  Christopher  Sower 
2d,  who  was  a  bishop  of  the  church,  was  arrested  as  a 
spy  in  1778,  smeared  with  paint,  prodded  with  bayo 
nets  and  taken  before  the  Provost  Guard.  His  life 
was  spared  him  only  because  of  the  intercession  of 
General  Washington,  his  property  was  confiscated,  and 
he  died  in  poverty,  a  dependent  upon  the  charity  of  his 
friends,  near  Norristown,  Pa.  His  sons  followed  the 
British  army  upon  its  departure  from  Philadelphia, 
Christopher  Sower  3d  becoming  for  a  time  a  king's 
printer  in  England,  and  later  enjoying  a  lucrative  office 
in  connection  with  the  post-office  in  Nova  Scotia.  After 
the  war  the  house  was  reorganized  and  Charles  G. 
Sower,  in  the  direct  line  in  the  fifth  generation,  in  1844 
entered  the  business.  As  Sower  and  Barnes,  Sower, 
Barnes  and  Company,  Sower,  Barnes  and  Potts,  Sower, 
Potts  and  Company,  and  since  1888  the  Christopher 
Sower  Company,  under  which  name  the  business  is  still 
conducted  at  614  Arch  Street,  the  firm  gained  much 
repute  in  the  school-book  trade.  It  is  held  to  be  the 
oldest  publishing  house  in  America. 

Many  of  the  Ephrata  brethren  lived  for  long  periods 
in  Germantown  while  Sower  was  issuing  the  great 
Hymn  Book.  They  supplied  some  of  the  paper  for  the 
Sower  Bible  and  bound  many  copies  of  the  book  for 
subscribers  in  Lancaster  County.  Because  of  disputes, 
however,  and  for  other  reasons,  Beissel  and  his  monks 
determined  to  establish  a  printery  of  their  own.  It  was 
about  1740  that  they  set  up  in  their  cloister  a  press 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  29 

adapted  to  the  use  of  both  German  and  English  types 
and  added  a  paper-mill  and  a  book-bindery  to  their 
little  group  of  industries.  Their  issues  are  now  the 
most  valuable  of  all  American  imprints.  The  largest 
of  the  undertakings  of  these  Lancaster  County  mystics 
was  "  Der  Blutige  Schauplatz  oder  Martyrer  Spiegel," 
the  great  Martyr  Book  compiled  by  Van  Bragt,  a  Dutch 
theologian.  It  was  a  more  or  less  complete  and  en 
tirely  horrible  record  of  the  devastations  committed 
upon  Christians  by  flame,  knife,  rack,  pinion,  screw  and 
other  instruments  of  torture.  In  the  moral  view  of  the 
time  of  Mennonites  and  Bunkers,  the  young  were  im 
proved  by  a  reading  of  such  literature,  and  the  Ephrata 
brethren  determined  to  translate  the  book  from  the 
Dutch  into  High  German.  Fifteen  monks  under 
Beissel's  direction  were  assigned  to  the  task  and  the 
work  of  translation,  printing,  binding  and  sale  was 
performed  in  about  three  years.  The  book  was  pub 
lished  in  1748  and  1749.  There  was  an  edition  of 
some  1 200  or  1300  copies  and  it  was  finished  as  a 
massive  folio  of  1512  pages  on  thick  paper  in  large 
type.  This  was  a  greater  achievement  than  Sower's 
printing  of  the  Bible,  and  altogether  the  most  note 
worthy  performance  in  the  early  history  of  publishing 
on  the  continent.  The  Martyr  Book  was  not  only  the 
largest  book  published  up  to  that  time  in  America;  it 
was  the  largest  to  make  its  appearance  until  after  the 
Revolution. 

In  still  another  field  were  the  Germans  of  Philadel 
phia  and  its  neighborhood  pioneers.  They  have  to 
their  credit  the  first  book  upon  the  subject  of  education. 
It  is  entitled  "  Schulordnung "  or  "  School  Manage 
ment,"  and  was  written  by  Christopher  Dock,  the 


3o  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

schoolmaster  of  the  Skippack.  Dock,  a  pious  Men- 
nonite,  came  to  America  about  1714  and  opened  a 
school  on  the  Skippack  in  what  is  now  Montgomery 
County,  teaching  too  for  a  time  in  Germantown.  The 
treatise  was  written  in  1750,  but  through  delays  occa 
sioned  by  the  author's  aversion  to  having  it  printed  and 
the  publisher's  misfortune  in  losing  or  mislaying  the 
manuscript,  it  was  not  issued  until  1769.  The  essay 
was  several  times  reprinted,  as  recently  as  in  1861. 
This  little  work,  together  with  some  articles  upon  the 
same  subject  in  Sower's  magazine,  affords  interesting 
insight  into  the  system  of  school-keeping  in  vogue  at 
the  time  among  Pennsylvania's  "  back  inhabitants. " 
The  rules  of  conduct  for  Dock's  children  may  be  read 
to-day  with  unalloyed  delight,  both  for  their  practical 
shrewdness,  and  the  quaint  mode  in  which  they  are 
expressed.  Some  of  them  follow: — 

"  Dear  child,  accustom  yourself  to  awaken  at  the 
right  time  in  the  morning  without  being  called,  and  as 
soon  as  you  are  awake  get  out  of  bed  without  delay." 

"  The  bones  or  what  remains  over  do  not  throw 
under  the  table;  do  not  put  them  on  the  table  cloth,  but 
let  them  lie  on  the  edge  of  the  plate." 

"  Picking  the  teeth  with  the  knife  or  fork  does  not 
look  well  and  is  injurious  to  the  gums." 

"  It  is  not  well  to  put  back  on  the  dish  what  you  have 
once  had  on  your  plate." 

uDo  not  stick  the  remaining  bread  in  your  pocket, 
but  let  it  lie  on  the  table." 

"  Learn  not  to  be  delicate  and  overnice  or  to  imagine 
that  you  cannot  eat  this  or  that  thing.  Many  must 
learn  to  eat  among  strangers  what  they  would  not  eat 
at  home." 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  31 

The  leaders  of  the  Moravians,  who  came  first  to 
Philadelphia  and  later  settled  at  Bethlehem,  Nazareth 
and  other  places  in  the  interior,  were  men  of  large  intel 
lectual  endowments  and  they  had  a  zeal  for  their  work 
in  excess  of  anything  that  had  been  seen  in  the  colony 
up  to  the  time  of  their  arrival.  They  found  Pennsyl 
vania  full  of  "  infidels,  scoffers  and  self-righteous 
saints,"  and  under  Augustus  Gottlieb  Spangenberg,  for 
a  time  a  professor  in  the  University  of  Halle,  and 
Count  Nicholas  Louis  von  Zinzendorf,  upon  whose 
estate  in  Saxony  the  Moravian  refugees  had  congre 
gated  for  their  migration  and  who  came  out  to  America 
himself  in  1741,  a  new  and  fiery  zeal  was  lent  to  re 
ligious  discussion  in  Pennsylvania.  Zinzendorf,  of  a 
prominent  noble  German  family,  wealthy  and  of  good 
repute,  soon  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  sect  in 
Germany.  He  was  radical  to  unwisdom  and  was  ban 
ished  from  his  home  to  become  a  missionary  of  more 
energy  than  efficiency.  Arriving  in  Philadelphia  incog 
nito,  it  was  soon  discovered  that  he  was  no  other  than 
the  famous  German  reformer.  He  then  determined  to 
change  his  name  by  legal  process.  After  a  hearing 
before  Governor  Thomas,  to  whom  he  made  his  appli 
cation  in  Latin,  in  the  presence  of  James  Hamilton, 
William  Allen,  William  Peters,  Benjamin  Franklin, 
Charles  Willing  and  other  prominent  officers  and  citi 
zens,  he  received  the  privilege  of  using  the  name  of 
Lewis  von  Thiirnstein.  It  was  his  desire  to  unite  all 
the  German  sects  in  America  upon  common  ground,  on 
the  theory,  however,  that  "  your  'doxy  must  be  my 
'doxy,"  if  it  were  to  be  anything  like  orthodoxy.  He 
called  and  presided  over  a  number  of  general  meetings 
or  synods,  most  of  which  were  held  in  Germantown, 


32  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

with  a  diminishing  representation  from  other  churches 
when  his  designs  were  fully  comprehended.  In  a  little 
while  he  became  the  pastor  of  a  Lutheran  congregation, 
founded  in  Philadelphia  in  1730,  which  met  in  a  barn 
in  Arch  Street.  The  leaders  at  Halle,  learning  of  the 
havoc  he  was  making  among  their  people  in  America, 
sent  out  the  first  Muhlenberg,  who  vigorously  denied 
the  Count's  right  to  act  as  one  of  them  and  take  charge 
of  Lutheran  flocks. 

Zinzendorf,  before  his  return  to  Germany  in  1743, 
made  a  number  of  trips  into  the  wilderness  to  convert 
the  Indians  and  was  involved  in  many  religious  contro 
versies,  wherein  unfortunate  language  was  employed 
upon  both  sides,  the  warfare  being  particularly  active 
between  him  and  the  Calvinists.  He  published  a  number 
of  tracts  on  Philadelphia  presses  which  called  out  other 
broadsides  in  reply.  Failing  to  unite  the  sects  his  own 
became  a  distinct  and  separate  establishment,  organized 
upon  an  odd  communal  plan,  the  tasks  of  the  sisters 
being  made  easy  by  the  poetry  of  Spangenberg: — 

"  Spin  and  weave,  compelled  by  love; 

Sew  and  wash  with  fervor, 
And  the  Saviour's  grace  will  make 
His  servants  glad  forever." 

They  were  reconciled  to  their  sufferings  for  lack  of 
sufficient  food  by  the  muse  of  their  leader  also : — 

"If  we  can  serve  our  Lord  and  King 
E'en  in  the  very  meanest  thing, 
It  is  indeed  to  us  so  sweet 
That  we  do  feel  it  drink  and  meat1' 

"  Nowhere  else,"  wrote  Spangenberg  of  the  Morav 
ians  in  America,  "  have  been  composed  such  beautiful 


AS  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING  33 

and  edifying  hymns  for  shepherds,  ploughers,  threshers, 
reapers,  spinners,  knitters,  washers,  sewers  and  others  as 
among  them  and  by  them.  They  would  fill  a  whole 
farmers'  hymn  book." 

The  intellectual  influence  of  the  Germans  in  Pennsyl 
vania  now  begins  to  wane.  Many  of  their  leaders  are 
dead;  others  have  returned  to  Europe.  The  children 
of  the  ablest  and  most  talented  have  learned  the  English 
language  to  take  a  part  with  credit  in  the  general  devel 
opment  of  Pennsylvania  as  an  English  province,  in  that 
manner  always  in  the  past  and  still  today  characteristic 
of  the  German  when  he  meets  the  Anglo-Saxon  in  a 
contest  for  racial  supremacy.  His  absorption  began  in 
the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  was  soon 
put  in  the  way  of  becoming  definitive  and  complete. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN 

As  the  eighteenth  century  advanced  and  the  people 
of  Pennsylvania  entered  its  second  half,  a  very  material 
change  came  over  the  thought,  the  intellectual  interests, 
the  writings,  and  the  issues  of  the  printing  houses  of  the 
colonists.  Angry  religious  disputants,  although  of 
these  Pennsylvania  never  had  a  large  or  even  her  full 
share,  were  passing  out  of  the  range  of  popular  atten 
tion,  the  uncompromising  advocates  of  theological  doc 
trine  having  their  views  fused  and  modified  in  a  crux 
of  generous  dimensions.  Broad,  catholic  and  receptive 
was  this  meltery  and  the  spirit  which  permeated  the 
entire  mass  when  the  colony  had  passed  through  this 
intellectual  change  was  more  liberal  than  that  reigning 
in  any  other  American  colony,  and  without  a  counter 
part  anywhere  in  the  world  except  in  France  at  the 
height  of  the  political  frenzy  which  brought  on  the 
Revolution.  Fortunately  the  time  was  passing  when 
calumny  of  one  religious  sect  by  the  adherents  of  an 
other  was  the  predominating  note  in  the  output  of  the 
Philadelphia  presses.  It  needed  the  absorbing  issues 
of  the  War  of  Independence  to  make  an  end  to  this 
most  unchristian  literary  exercise,  but  already  the  joy  in 
common  abuse  and  scurrility  was  diminishing  among 
writers  of  the  king's  English  in  Pennsylvania. 

There  were  to  be  several  powerful  pulpit  orators  and 
religious  writers  in  Philadelphia  before  the  Revolution 

34 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  35 

broke  over  the  heads  of  the  colonists,  albeit  they  were 
for  the  most  part  larger  minded  and  more  liberal  men 
than  the  sectarian  leaders  who  preceded  them.  Zin- 
zendorf,  the  Moravian,  had  come  and  gone.  It  re 
mains  for  us  to  mention  George  Whitefield  (pronounced 
Whit-field),  who  visited  Philadelphia  six  or  seven  times 
beginning  with  1739,  preaching  to  multitudes  from  the 
Court  House  steps,  from  balconies  in  Germantown,  and 
in  the  fields  and  forests,  one  of  the  most  powerful  of 
eighteenth  century  evangelists.  A  crowd  followed  him 
from  place  to  place,  denominated  by  Dr.  William  Smith 
as  "  Whitefield's  mob."  David  Hume  after  listening 
to  a  discourse  by  the  great  preacher  said  it  was  worth 
while  to  go  twenty  miles  to  hear  him.  Many  in  Penn 
sylvania  went  even  farther,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Harrisburg  he  had  such  an  influence  over  the  farmers 
that  they  neglected  their  crops  to  attend  his  meetings, 
thereby  suffering  severe  pecuniary  distress  that  called 
for  charitable  relief  the  next  winter.  At  some  places 
thousands  sat  on  horseback  in  the  rain  to  listen  to 
Whitefield's  sermons. 

This  remarkable  preacher  by  his  persuasive  manner 
and  resounding  voice  could  bring  vast  audiences,  esti 
mated  sometimes  to  contain  25,000  people,  to  any  im 
provised  rostrum  from  which  he  chose  to  speak,  pack 
ing  the  streets,  windows  and  housetops  in  all  directions. 
Once  at  the  Court  House  at  Second  and  Market  Streets 
the  assembly  stretched  away  to  the  river-side  and  many 
listened  from  boats  on  the  Delaware  River.  In  his 
first  sermon  in  England  (he  preached  no  less  than 
18,000  during  the  thirty-four  years  of  his  ministry) 
complaint  was  made  to  the  bishop  that  he  had  driven 
fifteen  people  mad.  That  churchly  man  in  a  manner 


36  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

suggestive  of  Lincoln's  later  remark  concerning  General 
Grant,  expressed  the  hope  that  their  madness  would  not 
abate  until  the  next  following  Sunday. 

Whitefield  knew  no  sect,  although  he  had  begun  as 
an  Episcopalian.  In  a  sermon  preached  in  Market 
Street  he  cried  out:  "  '  Father  Abraham,  whom  have 
you  in  Heaven?  Any  Episcopalians?  '  4  No.'  *  Any 
Presbyterians?'  '  No.'  '  Any  Baptists?'  '  No.1 
4  Have  you  any  Methodists  there?  '  *  No.'  '  Any  in 
dependents  or  seceders?'  *  No,  no.'  'Why,  whom 
have  you  there?  '  *  We  don't  know  those  names  here. 
All  that  are  here  are  Christians  —  believers  in  Christ  — 
men  who  have  been  overcome  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb 
and  the  word  of  his  testimony.'  *  Oh,  is  this  the  case? 
Then  God  help  me,  God  help  us  all  to  forget  party 
names  and  to  become  Christians  in  deed  and  in  truth.'  ' 

Whitefield's  hearers  were  often  melted  to  tears  and 
many  had  the  experience  of  Franklin,  never  accused  of 
being  a  sentimental  man.  "  I  silently  resolved  he  should 
get  nothing  from  me,"  he  relates  in  his  "  Autobiogra 
phy."  "  I  had  in  my  pocket  a  handful  of  copper  money, 
three  or  four  silver  dollars  and  five  pistoles  in  gold. 
As  he  proceeded  I  began  to  soften  and  concluded  to 
give  the  copper.  Another  stroke  of  his  oratory  made 
me  ashamed  of  that  and  determined  me  to  give  the 
silver  and  he  finished  so  admirably  that  I  emptied  my 
pocket  wholly  into  the  collector's  dish,  gold  and  all." 

Franklin  published  a  number  of  the  great  evangelist's 
sermons  which  also  found  their  way  into  German, 
through  Christopher  Sower. 

Henry  Melchior  Muhlenberg  came  out  in  1742  to 
take  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  Lutheran  Church, 
leading  a  useful  life  in  Philadelphia  and  its  neighbor- 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  37 

hood,  principally  at  the  Trappe  in  Montgomery  County, 
where  his  old  church  still  stands  and  where  his  three 
distinguished  sons  were  born.  They  were  educated 
together  at  the  German  universities,  returning  to 
America  to  become  preachers  little  less  renowned  than 
their  father.  The  eldest,  Peter,  declaring  when  the  war 
broke  out  that  "  there  is  a  time  for  all  things,  a  time  to 
preach  and  a  time  to  pray;  but  there  is  also  a  time  to 
fight  and  that  time  has  now  come,"  joined  the  Conti 
nental  Army,  to  return  to  civil  life  as  a  major-general. 
His  brother,  Frederick  Augustus  Conrad  Muhlenberg, 
abandoned  pastoral  for  political  life,  becoming  the  first 
Speaker  of  the  national  House  of  Representatives. 

The  third  brother,  Gotthilf  Henry  Ernest,  preached 
for  many  years  in  Philadelphia,  and  attained  interna 
tional  distinction  as  a  botanist,  his  life  coming  to  an  end 
in  1815  while  he  was  in  charge  of  a  Lutheran  church 
in  Lancaster,  Pa. 

A  family  of  theologians  little  less  remarkable  than 
the  Muhlenbergs  was  that  of  the  Tennents,  so  long  and 
prominently  identified  with  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
The  first  of  the  name  in  this  country  was  William  Ten-* 
nent,  an  Irishman,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Dub 
lin,  who  arrived  in  this  country  in  1718,  being  attracted 
here,  it  would  seem,  by  James  Logan,  whose  kinsman 
he  was.  For  twenty  years,  or  from  1726  to  1746,  he 
lived  at  Neshaminy  in  Bucks  County,  about  twenty 
miles  north  of  Philadelphia,  where  he  established  his 
famous  Log  College,  by  some  regarded  as  the  starting 
point  of  Princeton  University.  At  this  academy,  vis 
ited  by  Whitefield,  to  whom  it  seemed  to  resemble  "  the 
school  of  the  old  prophets,  for  their  habitations  were 
mean,"  many  preachers  of  great  eminence  in  the  church 


38  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

were  imbued  with  its  master's  zealous  spirit.  It  is 
sometimes  called  "  the  cradle  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  America."  While  no  trace  of  the  college 
remained,  the  anniversary  of  its  foundation  was  cele 
brated  in  an  open  field  on  the  old  William  Tennent 
farm  near  the  village  of  Hartsville  on  September  5, 
1889,  in  the  presence  of  President  Benjamin  Harrison, 
who,  to  attend  the  ceremonies,  was  driven  under  arches 
and  past  hurrahing  crowds  which  lined  the  wayside,  the 
occasion  leading  to  expressions  of  much  interest  and  en 
thusiasm. 

William  Tennent  had  three  sons  in  the  Presbyterian 
ministry:  Gilbert  Tennent,  the  best  known  of  all  of  the 
name,  who  long  occupied  the  pulpit  of  the  Second  Pres 
byterian  Church  in  Philadelphia  and  wrote  many  dis 
quisitions  on  religious  subjects;  John  Tennent,  who 
died  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  while  a  pastor  at  Free 
hold,  N.  J. ;  and  William  Tennent,  Jr.,  who  succeeded 
his  brother  at  Freehold,  where  he  preached  for  forty- 
four  years,  widely  known  for  a  cataleptic  fit  or  trance 
described  in  a  memoir  by  Elias  Boudinot.  Narrowly 
escaping  burial  alive,  he  was  at  length  resuscitated  to 
return  to  consciousness  in  the  ignorance  of  a  child. 
Even  his  letters  he  was  obliged  to  learn  anew,  and  while 
in  his  fit  it  always  seemed  to  him  as  though  he  had  been 
for  that  time  enjoying  the  glories  of  Heaven. 

Gilbert  Tennent  was  a  touring  preacher  in  America, 
especially  in  his  youth,  of  little  less  power  than  White- 
field,  assisting  that  man  in  one  of  the  greatest  revivalistic 
movements  which  ever  swept  over  the  country.  White- 
field  after  hearing  him  said:  "Never  before  heard  I 
such  a  searching  sermon.  He  went  to  the  bottom  and 
did  not  daub  with  untempered  mortar.  .  .  . 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  39 

Hypocrites  must  either  soon  be  converted  or  enraged  at 
his  preaching.  He  is  a  son  of  thunder  and  does  not 
regard  the  face  of  man."  Dr.  William  Smith  called 
him  "  Hellfire  "  Tennent  and  this  was  the  name  by 
which  he  was  long  popularly  known.  Because  of  the 
famous  Nottingham  sermon  in  1739,  in  which  he  casti 
gated  his  fellow  ministers  who  went  not  outside  their 
own  congregations  to  save  men's  souls,  calling  them 
"  caterpillars  who  labor  and  devour  every  green  thing," 
he  was  compelled  to  leave  the  regular  synod  with  a 
group  of  his  radical  friends  called  the  "  New  Lights." 
Such  preaching  as  Tennent's  made  a  great  sensation 
and  his  sermons  were  printed  and  circulated  up  and 
down  the  colonies.  In  "  A  Passionate  Perswasive  to  a 
Marriage  with  the  Lamb  of  God,"  a  sermon  first 
preached  at  New  Brunswick  in  1735,  this  daring  re 
vivalist  said: — 

"  Those  that  are  rich  are  wont  to  be  coy  in  courtship. 
But  what  madness  is  it  for  you  sinners  to  be  coy  when 
the  rich  and  all  sufficient  Jesus  makes  court  to  you  who 
are  as  poor  and  beggarly  as  sin  and  death  can  make 
you.  Would  not  you  count  it  a  piece  of  unaccountable 
rudeness  and  folly  if  a  beggarly  scullion  girl  who  had 
scarce  clothes  to  her  back  would  show  much  coyness  and 
backwardness  when  a  great  prince  of  noble  blood  and 
great  wealth  made  repeated  earnest  suit  to  her,  offered 
to  advance  her  to  royal  dignity  and  clothe  her  with 
cloth  of  gold?  O  unhappy  sinners,  this  is  your  foolish 
practice.  Christ  offers  you  great  things  on  your  com 
pliance  with  the  terms  of  marriage.  Though  ye  have 
lain  among  the  smutty  pots  of  sin  yet  if  ye  will  be 
espoused  to  Jesus  you  may  be  clothed  with  gold  of 
Ophir  and  all  your  garments  made  to  smell  of  myrrh, 


40  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

aloes  and  cassia  out  of  the  ivory  palaces.  You  may  be 
adorned  like  the  dove  whose  wings  are  covered  with 
silver  and  her  feathers  with  yellow  gold." 

Later  he  burst  out  into  a  most  violent  assault  upon 
the  tepid  and  but  half  redeemed  in  his  audience  as  fol 
lows  : 

*  You  halvers  in  Christianity,  who  do  something  and 
suffer  something  but  not  enough,  ye  first  or  second  table 
Christians  wrho  cry  up  the  positive  duties  of 
Divine  worship  and  in  the  meantime  for  all  your  phari- 
saical  show,  grimace  and  ceremony,  neglect  morality 
and  the  duties  you  owe  to  your  neighbor.  For  all  your 
show  of  Christianity  you  would  bite  and  cheat  your 
neighbors  if  you  could  do  it  handsomely  so  as  to  escape 
discredit.  O  ye  wretched,  fair-faced,  smooth-tongued 
but  foul,  false-hearted  hypocrites,  you  are  the  bane  and 
pest  of  Christianity.  O  ye  whited  sepulchres.  It's  you 
who  under  a  pretense  of  friendship  wound  religion  to 
the  heart  and  leave  it  bleeding  and  gasping  for  life. 
Pull  off  your  paint  and  masks,  ye  hypocrites,  and  appear 
like  what  ye  are,  incarnate  devils;  it's  better  for  the 
people  of  God  to  have  roaring  raging  devils  than  devils 
in  disguise;  what  can  such  as  ye  expect  but  to  be  cut 
asunder  by  the  sword  of  God's  justice  and  sunk  in  the 
damnation  of  hell?  " 

These  extracts  fairly  well  illustrate  the  literary,  or  it 
should  be  said,  unliterary  manner  of  Gilbert  Tennent, 
when  he  was  a  young  man  in  the  revival  meeting. 
After  he  settled  in  Philadelphia  at  his  new  church  at 
Third  and  Mulberry  (Arch)  Streets,  he  composed  his 
sermons  deliberately.  They  were  more  polished  in  style 
and  were  often  read  from  the  prepared  manuscript, 
which  led  at  least  one  who  sat  in  judgment  to  say  that 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  41 

Mr.  Tennent  "  was  never  worth  anything  after  he 
came  to  Philadelphia." 

In  1753  this  vigorous  preacher  went  to  England 
with  Rev.  Samuel  Davies  to  seek  pecuniary  aid  for 
Princeton  College.  It  is  very  likely  that  Davies  was  the 
most  brilliant  pulpit  orator  of  his  day  in  America. 
Well  educated,  polished,  rhetorical  and  eloquent,  he 
was  a  force  of  value  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He 
received  his  classical  training  at  Samuel  Blair's  famous 
school  at  Fogg's  Manor  in  Chester  County,  but  early 
left  Philadelphia  and  its  environs  for  Virginia,  where 
his  fame  resounded  over  the  country.  In  1759,  while 
still  but  thirty-six  years  old,  he  succeeded  Jonathan 
Edwards  as  President  of  Princeton  College,  although 
he  lived  to  occupy  that  office  only  two  years.  His  ser 
mons  fill  three  large  volumes  and  they  are  reprinted  and 
read  to  this  day.  In  the  pulpit  it  is  said  that  "  he 
looked  like  the  ambassador  of  some  great  king."  Most 
carefully  prepared,  for  he  would  not  "  speak  nonsense 
in  the  name  of  God,"  his  discourses  were  manifestly  for 
declamation  rather  than  for  quiet  reading  at  the  fireside 
in  unimpassioned  print.  It  is  the  orator  rather  than 
the  writer  whose  presence  is  felt  in  these  passages  from 
his  sermon  on  "  The  General  Resurrection  " : 

"  They  shall  come  forth.  Now  methinks  I  see,  I 
hear,  the  earth  heaving,  charnel  houses  rattling,  tombs 
bursting,  graves  opening.  Now  the  nations  under 
ground  begin  to  stir.  There  is  a  noise  and  a  shaking 
among  the  dry  bones.  The  dust  is  all  alive  and  in 
motion  and  the  globe  breaks  and  trembles,  as  with  an 
earthquake,  while  this  vast  army  is  working  its  way 
through  and  bursting  into  life.  The  ruins  of  human 
bodies  are  scattered  far  and  wide  and  have  passed 


42  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

through  many  and  surprising  transformations.  A  limb 
in  one  country  and  another  in  another;  here  the  head 
and  there  the  trunk  and  the  ocean  rolling  between. 
Multitudes  have  sunk  in  a  watery  grave,  been  swal 
lowed  up  by  the  monsters  of  the  deep  and  transformed 
into  a  part  of  their  flesh.  Multitudes  have  been  eaten 
by  beasts  and  birds  of  prey  and  incorporated  with  them; 
and  some  have  been  devoured  by  their  fellow  men  in  the 
rage  of  desperate  hunger  or  of  unnatural  cannibal  appe 
tite  and  digested  into  a  part  of  them.  Multitudes  have 
mouldered  into  dust  and  this  dust  has  been  blown  about 
by  winds  and  washed  away  with  water, —  or  it  has  petri 
fied  into  stone  or  been  burnt  into  brick  to  form  dwellings 
for  their  posterity;  or  it  has  grown  up  in  grain,  trees, 
plants,  and  other  vegetables  which  are  the  support  of 
man  and  beast  and  are  transformed  into  their  flesh  and 
blood.  But  through  all  these  various  transformations 
and  changes  not  a  particle  that  was  essential  to  one 
human  body  has  been  lost,  or  incorporated  with  another 
human  body  so  as  to  become  an  essential  part  of  it. 
The  omniscient  God  knows  how  to  collect, 
distinguish,  and  compound  all  those  scattered  and 
mingled  seeds  of  our  mortal  bodies.  And  now  at  the 
sound  of  the  trumpet  they  shall  all  be  collected  wher 
ever  they  were  scattered ;  all  properly  sorted  and  united, 
however  they  were  confused,  atom  to  its  fellow  atom, 
bone  to  its  fellow  bone.  Now  methinks  you  may  see 
the  air  darkened  with  fragments  of  bodies  flying  from 
country  to  country  to  meet  and  join  their  proper  parts. 
Then,  my  brethren,  your  dust  and  mine  shall  be  reani 
mated  and  organized." 

Divines  much  calmer  in  their  outlook  upon  life  were 
the  leaders  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Pennsylvania, 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  43 

such  as  Dr.  William  Smith,  Dr.  Richard  Peters,  and 
Rev.  Jacob  Duche  (pronounced  Dou-shay),  and  some 
of  the  Quaker  preachers  and  writers,  foremost  among 
them  being  John  Woolman,  the  author  of  a  journal. 

Dr.  William  Smith,  who  was  a  more  actively  intel 
lectual  factor  in  the  Philadelphia  of  his  time  than  any 
one  except  Franklin,  though  in  an  opposite  sense,  may 
better  be  considered  as  a  writer  upon  general  subjects, 
and  as  the  distinguished  patron  of  literature  in  the 
colony  that  he  was,  rather  than  in  any  narrower  theo 
logical  connection. 

Dr.  Richard  Peters,  an  Englishman,  who  had  taken 
orders  after  studying  law,  came  to  this  country  in  1735 
when  about  thirty  years  of  age.  While  very  young  he 
had  been  married  unhappily  and  sought  comfort  of 
mind  in  a  new  land.  For  a  little  while  he  was  assistant 
rector  of  Christ  Church  but  soon  resigned  to  accept  an 
office  under  the  proprietary  government.  His  brother, 
William  Peters,  whose  mansion  at  Belmont  was  long  a 
brilliant  social  centre  in  the  colony,  and  William's  son, 
Judge  Richard  Peters,  also  honored  the  name  in  Phila 
delphia.  In  1762  Rev.  Richard  Peters  returned  to  the 
ministry  as  rector  of  Christ  Church,  dying  in  July, 
1776,  a  few  days  after  Independence  was  proclaimed. 
His  whole  life,  says  an  admiring  student  of  his  career, 
seems  to  have  been  "  a  series  of  kind,  hospitable,  and 
beneficent  acts  to  people  around  and  about  him."  For 
years  he  was  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
college  which  later  became  the  University  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  active  in  the  spread  of  Christian  charity  that 
knew  no  congregational  bounds  and  in  the  encourage 
ment  of  education,  art,  science  and  poetry. 

First  an  assistant  rector  to  Dr.  Peters  and  then  his 


44  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

successor,  Jacob  Duche,  of  Huguenot  stock,  though  a 
native  of  Philadelphia  and  a  classmate  at  the  College 
of  Philadelphia  of  Francis  Hopkinson  (whose  sister  he 
married),  was  known  as  a  polished  preacher  and  writer 
and  the  maker  of  the  opening  prayer  in  the  first  Conti 
nental  Congress  in  Philadelphia  in  1774,  for  which  he 
was  publicly  thanked,  and  of  which  John  Adams  wrote 
to  his  wife  that  even  his  Boston  minister  had  "  never 
prayed  with  such  fervor,  such  ardor,  such  earnestness 
and  pathos  and  in  language  so  elegant  and  sublime." 
Afterward  he  was  known  to  fame  principally  as  the 
author  of  a  letter  to  General  Washington  in  1777, 
urging  him  to  seek  a  reconciliation  with  England,  which 
was  misunderstood  by  the  Pennsylvania  Jacobins  and 
led  to  a  confiscation  of  his  estates  and  his  prolonged 
exile  in  England.  As  a  writer,  Duche  should  be  better 
known  than  he  is  at  this  day  through  his  "  Caspipina's 
Letters,"  published  first  in  America  and  later  in  Eng 
land  —  polished,  clean,  entertaining  comment  in  epis 
tolary  form,  by  one  "  Tamoc  Caspipina,"*  upon  Phila 
delphia  and  Philadelphians.  To  a  correspondent  in 
Oxford,  England,  he  writes  that  "  the  new  world  is 
indeed  launched  forth  and  has  proceeded  more  than  half 
way  to  meet  the  old."  "  I  am  now  sitting  in  a  win 
dow,"  he  continues,  "  that  overlooks  the  majestic  Dela 
ware,  compared  with  which  our  Isis  and  Cherwell, 
though  immortalized  in  song,  would  appear  but  little 
babbling  brooks.  The  woods  along  the  opposite  shore 
of  New  Jersey  are  clothed  in  their  brightest  verdure 
and  afford  a  pleasing  rest  and  refreshment  to  the  eye 

*The  first  letters  of  the  words  composing  the  title  of  his  religious 
office,  "  The  assistant  minister  of  Christ  Church  and  St.  Peter's  in 
Philadelphia  in  North  America," 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  45 

after  it  hath  glanced  across  the  watry  mirror.  Whilst 
I  am  writing  this  three  topsail  vessels  wafted  along  by 
a  gentle  southern  breeze  are  passing  by  my  window. 
The  voice  of  industry  perpetually  resounds  along  the 
shore;  and  every  wharf  within  my  view  is  surrounded 
with  groves  of  masts  and  heaped  with  commodities 
of  every  kind  from  almost  every  quarter  of  the  globe." 

John  Woolman  was  a  minister  among  Friends,  self- 
instructed  but  of  rare  natural  gifts.  The  "  Journal  " 
of  his  life  and  travels  has  been  published  many  times, 
being  edited  affectionately  in  1871  by  the  poet  Whittier, 
to  revive  the  interest  in  a  piece  of  remarkably  simple  and 
lucid  writing.  Admired  by  all  English  critics,  to  some, 
as  to  Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  it  made  the  warmest 
appeal.  Charles  Lamb  recommended  everyone  "  to  get 
the  writings  of  John  Woolman  by  heart."  An  illiter 
ate  tailor,  "  his  religion  was  love,"  as  one  admirer  ex 
plains.  "  His  whole  existence  and  all  his  passions 
were  love." 

He  was  born  in  Burlington  County,  N.  J.,  in  1720, 
and  while  employed  in  Mount  Holly  as  a  clerk  to  a 
shopkeeper,  who  asked  him  to  write  out  a  bill  of  sale 
for  a  negro  woman,  made  his  vows  against  slavery. 
Dressed  in  undyed  homespun  he  preached  Abolition 
upon  his  journeys  made  on  foot  through  the  Southern 
states.  At  the  monthly  and  yearly  meetings  in  Phila 
delphia  and  its  neighboring  counties,  he  industriously 
bore  testimony  against  the  "  dark  gloominess  overhang 
ing  the  land."  He  lived  while  at  home  in  a  small  two- 
story,  white-washed  wooden  house  in  Mount  Holly  and 
died  in  1772,  in  Yorkshire,  England,  whither  he  had 
gone  on  a  religious  visit,  being  buried  in  Friends' 
ground  in  York. 


46  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

While  religious  discussion  was  continued  actively,  the 
leaders  were  being  chastised  by  the  rod  of  a  larger 
world,  their  religious  tempers  were  being  sweetened, 
and  their  opinions  of  other  men  liberalized  by  contact 
and  experience.  Peters  and  Duche  marked  a  great  ad 
vance  over  George  Keith;  Woolman  over  Thomas 
Chalkley;  Muhlenberg,  Davies  and  even  Gilbert  Ten- 
nent  over  Kelpius,  Conrad  Beissel  and  the  early  sec 
tarians  and  priests.  Now  there  were  printed  and 
offered  for  sale  such  works  as  "  The  honor  of  the  gout, 
or  a  rational  discourse  demonstrating  that  the  gout  is 
one  of  the  greatest  blessings  which  can  befall  mortal 
man,  that  all  gentlemen  who  are  weary  of  it  are  their 
own  enemies,  that  those  practitioners  who  offer  at  the 
cure  are  the  vainest  and  most  mischievous  cheats  in 
nature  ";  and  "  The  temporal  interest  of  North  Amer 
ica,  showing  the  causes  and  cure  of  the  many  distrac 
tions,  wants,  poverty  and  ill-will  to  each  other  which  we 
are  exposed  to  in  a  country  wherein  we  might  live  as 
happily  as  any  people  in  the  world  if  it  were  not  our 
own  fault." 

In  truth,  the  city  had  entered  the  age  of  Franklin, 
when  men  were  ready  to  renounce  the  prudery  of  their 
fathers,  see  some  brightness  and  joy  in  the  world  that 
God  had  spread  out  about  them,  and  with  a  little 
humorous  honesty  attribute  to  their  own  mistakes  the 
evils  and  misfortunes  they  were  earlier  prone  to  explain 
by  some  austere  reading  of  the  Scriptures.  If  the  reac 
tion  were  too  great,  as  many  believed,  and  Franklin's 
influence  was  distinctly  atheistical,  the  transition  was 
not  immediate,  nor  was  it  ever  complete. 

Franklin's  fame  seems  to  grow  and  extend  as  each 
generation  of  birthdays  passes  over  the  stone  that  marks 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  47 

his  last  resting  place  in  the  little  acre  of  God  at  Fifth 
and  Arch  Streets  in  Philadelphia. 

We  read  his  bland  account  of  the  "  errata  "  of  his 
life  in  his  "  Autobiography,"  his  half-proud  allusions  to 
his  love  intrigues  that  attest  to  the  immorality  of  his 
youth,  and  his  foolish  fondness  for  adulation  in  his  old 
age,  not  without  blushes  for  the  honor  of  our  eighteenth 
century  civilization,  if  he  be  set  up  as  its  highest  type. 
We  know  of  his  duplicity  in  his  business  and  political 
relations  and  couple  his  name  with  that  of  some  of  the 
vulgar  masters  of  party  management  in  modern  Amer 
ica.  To  this  day  there  are  probably  Philadelphians 
who  would  disown  Franklin  and  let  him  revert  to  the 
New  England  from  which  he  came. 

His  shrewdness  is  said  to  be  Yankee;  but  it  is  as 
distinctly  German  or  recreant  Quaker.  Franklin  might 
not  have  been  else  than  what  he  was  in  any  other  sur 
roundings,  but  it  is  very  clear  that  he  was  deeply  influ 
enced  by  the  life  he  faced  in  Pennsylvania,  and  he  is  a 
product  of  the  conditions  existing  in  the  city  which  he 
entered  by  way  of  Market  Street  at  seventeen  years  of 
age  with  a  bread  roll  under  each  arm,  while  munching 
a  third  to  relieve  the  hunger  he  had  accumulated  on  his 
journey  from  Boston  by  way  of  New  York,  a  runaway 
printer's  apprentice.  Think  and  say  what  we  will,  his 
fame  is  secure  and  his  hold  upon  the  age  in  which  he 
lived  was  firm.  He  was  a  patriot,  but  so  were  two 
other  Philadelphians,  Robert  Morris  and  James  Wil 
son,  about  whom  infinitely  less  is  known,  although  in 
statecraft  they  were  as  sound  as  Burke,  while  Franklin 
was  almost  as  wrong  as  Paine  and  Mirabeau.  He 
founded  a  college,  a  library,  a  newspaper,  a  magazine,  a 
learned  society,  a  hospital,  a  fire  company,  and  designed 


48  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

a  new  stove  and  the  lightning  rod;  but  it  is  for  his 
literary  services  and  his  philosophy  that  his  career  is  to 
be  examined  in  this  volume.  It  is  for  what  he  wrote 
and  for  the  spirit  which  his  work  breathed  that  he  is 
to  be  considered  in  this  record  of  Philadelphia's  intel 
lectual  life. 

If  we  are  asked  exactly  to  state  what  Franklin  did 
to  lead  David  Hume  to  declare  him  the  first  writer  in 
America  to  attain  an  international  reputation  and  to  be 
honored  in  France  beyond  Voltaire,  Rousseau  and 
Turgot,  the  task  is  not  an  easy  one.  We  are  referred 
to  the  incomplete  autobiography  which  has  been  printed 
in  so  many  languages  (a  translation  into  the  Servian 
recently  coming  into  the  possession  of  the  Franklin  Inn) , 
remarkable  alike  for  its  lucidity  and  its  humor.  We 
are  also  urged  to  consider  the  wise  saws  of  Poor 
Richard. 

The  almanac  very  early  made  its  appearance  in  Penn 
sylvania,  and  Philadelphia  in  the  eighteenth  century 
was  the  principal  centre  in  America  for  the  publication 
and  circulation  of  these  indispensable  household  com 
panions  of  the  poorest  colonists.  What  a  magazine  is 
to  a  modern  publishing  house,  the  almanac  was  to  the 
printer  of  that  day,  a  medium  for  the  advertisement  of 
his  business.  In  truth,  it  was  an  annual  magazine  and 
it  was  hung  in  the  chimney  corner  in  January  to  be 
thumb-marked  and  dog-eared  by  much  reading  and  con 
sultation  until  the  next  December.  The  almanac-mak 
ers  not  only  supplied  the  public  with  the  calendar  of 
months,  weeks  and  days;  they  added  a  vast  amount  of 
more  or  less  wise  information  about  the  motions  of 
planetary  bodies,  the  time  of  the  sun's  rising  and  set 
ting,  the  rising,  setting  and  southing  of  the  moon,  with 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  49 

many  prognostications  as  to  the  probable  state  of  the 
weather  upon  distant  dates,  based  upon  popular  experi 
ence  with  the  equinoxes  and  other  not  too  reliable  de- 
terminators.  This  information  was  greatly  valued  by 
men  and  women  who  sowed  and  garnered  their  grains, 
planted  herbs,  gelded  and  sheared  sheep  and  were  them 
selves  purged  and  bled  according  to  astrological  "signs." 
In  addition,  there  were  tables  of  kings,  curious  direc 
tions  for  curing  many  common  kinds  of  disease  with 
simples  and  other  natural  medicines,  the  dates  of  county 
fairs  and  the  meetings  of  courts;  while  other  matter 
useful  or  perhaps  only  entertaining  was  introduced  at 
the  will  of  the  compiler.  From  the  earliest  times 
verses,  and  maxims,  and  wise  sayings  were  inserted  in 
the  almanacs  at  the  convenience  of  the  editor  and  the 
printer. 

The  leading  almanac  in  the  field  in  Pennsylvania  be 
fore  Franklin  entered  it  with  "  Richard  Saunders  "  was 
undoubtedly  Leeds's,  first  conducted  by  Daniel  Leeds, 
then  by  his  son  Titan.  Afterward  there  were  a  host, 
among  them  Taylor's,  Birkett's,  Jerman's,  Poor  Will's, 
Poor  Robin's,  Thomas  More's,  Thomas  Godfrey's, 
Matthew  Boucher's,  Grew's,  Andrew  Aguecheek's  and 
the  almanac  of  A.  Weatherwise,  Gent.,  sometimes 
called  Father  Abraham's. 

It  was  a  tradition  very  well  established  that  the  cal 
endar  for  each  month  should  be  set  under  a  number  of 
original,  that  is  to  say,  bad  verses.  In  1718  Titan 
Leeds  remarked  in  his  almanac: — 

"  Because  'tis  common  to  put  verses  on  the  top  of  the 
months  therefore  many  people  expect  it;  yet  if  I  knew 
whether  the  major  number  of  votes  would  be  against  it 
I  would  insert  other  things  more  useful  to  some," 


50  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

A  slave  to  the  system,  the  almanac-maker  wrote  for 
May,  1727:  * 

"  Now  the  pleasant  time  approaches  ; 
Gentlemen  do  ride  in  coaches, 
But  poor  men  they  don't  regard 
That  to  maintain  them  labor  hard. 
Birds  do  sit  on  every  splinter 
Singing  as  'twould  ne'er  be  winter. 
If  lawyers'  pleading  should  refrain 
A  little  while,  they'll  to  't  again ; 
Let  what  weather  come  what  will, 
Strife  brings  grist  unto  their  mill." 

Franklin  first  issued  his  "  Poor  Richard's  "  Almanac 
in  1733,  introducing  some  innovations  and  improve 
ments  that  soon  developed  into  marked  literary  origi 
nalities.  The  verse  is  better: — 

"  She  that  will  eat  her  breakfast  in  her  bed, 
And  spend  the  morn  in  dressing  of  her  head, 
And  sit  at  dinner  like  a  maiden  bride, 
And  talk  of  nothing  all  day  but  of  pride ; 
God  in  his  mercy  may  do  much  to  save  her, 
But  what  a  case  is  he  in  that  shall  have  her." 

The  maxims  for  which  "  Poor  Richard  "  became 
famous  were  not  slow  to  make  their  appearance.  The 
first  issue  of  the  Almanac  brought  forth  many  that  have 
long  been  identified  with  the  name  of  their  author: — 

"  A  fat  kitchen,  a  lean  will." 

"  He  that  drinks  fast  pays  slow." 

"  Take  counsel  in  wine  but  rejoice  afterwards  in 
water." 

*  Jerman's. 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  51 

"  He's  the  best  physician  that  knows  the  worthless- 
ness  of  the  most  medicines." 

"  He  that  lies  down  with  dogs  shall  rise  up  with 
fleas." 

"  Keep  your  mouth  wet,  feet  dry." 

"  Tongue  double  brings  trouble." 

Occasionally  "  Richard "  abandoned  the  maxim  in 
favor  of  some  other  medium,  as  when  he  told  his  read 
ers  what  were  "  the  mental  and  personal  qualifications 
for  a  wife  "  : — 

"  A  good  person  but  not  perfectly  beautiful. 

"  With  regard  to  complexion  not  quite  fair  but  a 
little  brown. 

"  Young  by  all  means. 

"  Old  by  no  means. 

"  In  spelling  a  little  becoming  deficiency;  and  in  the 
doctrine  of  punctuation  (or  what  is  generally  called 
stopping)  by  no  means  conversant. 

"A  proper  knowledge  of  accounts  and  arithmetic; 
but  no  sort  of  skill  in  fractions. 

"  No  enthusiasm  for  the  guitar. 

"  To  tea  and  coffee  no  objection. 

"  An  acquaintance  with  domestic  news,  but  no  ac 
quaintance  with  foreign. 

"  Decently  but  not  affectedly  silent." 

Franklin's  position  as  a  literary  man  was  gained  by 
and  rests  to-day  upon  no  one  specific  writing.  It  is  rath 
er  the  general  result  of  a  vast  variety  of  activities,  epis 
tolary  and  pamphletary,  in  the  proceedings  of  learned 
societies,  parliamentary  records,  in  newspapers,  maga 
zines  and  almanacs  —  a  sum  that  is  large  as  we  know 
from  the  voluminous  editions  of  his  works.  In  all  that 
he  did  he  breathed  a  new  spirit  that  caught  hold  of  the 


52  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

fancy  of  men  long  held  in  the  strait  jacket  of  absolutism 
in  their  politics  and  morality.  As  the  living  type  and 
a  prophet  of  a  newer  and  happier  philosophy,  honors 
were  showered  upon  him  at  home  that  were  accorded 
him  the  more  gracefully  and  unquestioningly  when  it 
was  seen  what  a  veritable  demi-god  he  was  become 
abroad,  especially  in  France,  where  the  Mississippi 
Bubble  and  Mesmer  dethroned  men's  reasons  in  a 
scarcely  more  remarkable  way.  To  no  man  was  the 
rise  and  peculiar  vogue  of  Franklin  in  this  country  and 
Europe,  both  insular  and  continental,  so  puzzling  as  to 
John  Adams,  and  few  were  better  entitled  to  a  judg 
ment  on  a  question  so  generally  interesting.  "  His  rep 
utation,"  says  Adams,  "  was  more  universal  than  that 
of  Leibnitz  or  Newton,  Frederick  or  Voltaire,  and  his 
character  more  beloved  and  esteemed  than  any  or  all 
of  them.  Newton  had  astonished  perhaps  forty  or 
fifty  men  in  Europe;  for  not  more  than  that  number 
probably  at  any  one  time  had  read  him  and  understood 
him  by  his  discoveries  and  demonstrations.  And  these 
being  held  in  admiration  in  their  respective  countries, 
as  at  the  head  of  the  philosophers,  had  spread  among 
scientific  people  a  mysterious  wonder  at  the  genius  of 
this,  perhaps  the  greatest  man,  that  ever  lived.  But 
this  fame  was  confined  to  men  of  letters.  The  common 
people  knew  little  and  cared  nothing  about  such  a  re 
cluse  philosopher.  Leibnitz's  name  was  more  confined 
still.  Frederick  was  hated  by  more  than  half  of 
Europe,  as  much  as  Louis  the  Fourteenth  was,  and  as 
Napoleon  is.  Voltaire,  whose  name  was  more  univer 
sal  than  any  of  those  before  mentioned,  was  considered 
as  a  vain  profligate  and  not  much  esteemed  or  beloved 
by  anybody,  though  admired  by  all  who  knew  his  works. 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  53 

But  Franklin's  fame  was  universal.  His  name  was 
familiar  to  government  and  people,  to  kings,  courtiers, 
nobility,  clergy  and  philosophers  as  well  as  plebeians  to 
such  a  degree  that  there  was  scarcely  a  peasant  or  a 
citizen,  a  valet  de  chambre,  coachman  or  footman,  a 
lady's  chambermaid  or  a  scullion  in  a  kitchen  who  was 
not  familiar  with  it  and  who  did  not  consider  him  a 
friend  to  human  kind.  When  they  spoke  of  him  they 
seemed  to  think  he  was  to  restore  the  golden  age. 
.  .  .  He  was  considered  as  a  citizen  of  the  world,  a 
friend  of  all  men  and  an  enemy  to  none.  His  rigorous 
taciturnity  was  very  favorable  to  this  singular  felicity. 
He  conversed  only  with  individuals  and  freely  only  with 
confidential  friends.  In  company  he  was  totally  silent. 
Throughout  his  whole  life  he  courted  and  was 
courted  by  the  printers,  editors  and  correspondents  of 
reviews,  magazines,  journals,  pamphleteers  and  those 
little  busy  meddling  scribblers  that  are  always  buzzing 
about  the  press  in  America,  England,  France  and  Hol 
land.  .  .  .  If  a  collection  could  be  made  of  all  the 
gazettes  of  Europe  for  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century  a  greater  number  of  panegyrical  paragraphs 
upon  '  le  grand  Franklin  '  would  appear,  it  is  believed, 
than  upon  any  other  man  that  ever  lived." 

Adams,  never  very  friendly,  continuing,  observes 
that  Franklin  was  of  all  religions  to  all  men, —  Roman 
Catholic,  Church  of  England,  Presbyterian,  while  the 
Friends  thought  him  a  kind  of  wet  Quaker.  His  light 
ning  rods  stuck  their  iron  points  into  the  sky  to  com 
memorate  his  name  wherever  there  were  shrinking 
women  and  timorous  children.  Adams  ended  by  con 
fessing  that  he  was  totally  unable  "  to  develop  the 
complication  of  causes  which  conspired  to  produce  so 


54  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

singular  a  phenomenon,"  and  expressed  the  opinion  that 
it  would  require  a  complete  history  of  the  philosophy 
and  politics  of  the  eighteenth  century  which  if  it  should 
ever  be  written  would  be  a  more  important  book  than 
"  The  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire." 

From  his  first  coming  to  Philadelphia,  Franklin  had 
been  given  to  the  democratic  association  with  other  men, 
displaying  a  distinct  talent  for  organization  and  leader 
ship.  He  stood  aghast  before  no  higher  presence  and 
early  started  on  his  way  to  make  himself  the  great  man 
of  the  province.  His  interests  were  as  infinite  as  the 
stars  above  his  head  and  the  blades  of  grass  beneath  his 
feet.  About  them  all  he  inquired  and  reasoned  accord 
ing  to  his  lights.  At  an  early  age  he  was  revising  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  For  u  give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread, 
and  forgive  our  debts  as  we  forgive  our  debtors  "  he 
proposed  to  substitute,  "  provide  for  us  this  day  as  thou 
hast  hitherto  daily  done.  Forgive  our  trespasses  and 
enable  us  to  forgive  those  that  offend  us."  He  per 
formed  this  task  with  the  same  unruffled  temper  with 
which  many  years  later  he  permitted  the  women  of 
France  to  place  laurel  wreaths  upon  his  brow  at  Ver 
sailles. 

He  was  early  known  as  the  friend  of  the  common 
man,  with  whom  he  esteemed  himself  not  too  good  to 
associate  or  sympathize.  His  first  companions  were 
Charles  Osborne  and  Joseph  Watson,  who  were  clerks 
in  the  law  and  conveyancing  office  of  Charles  Brockden; 
and  James  Ralph,  employed  in  a  mercantile  house. 
With  these  young  men  Franklin  spent  his  Sundays 
among  the  trees  on  the  sloping  banks  of  the  Schuylkill, 
where  with  heads  on  mossy  hillocks  or  fallen  logs,  they 
read  to  one  another  from  books,  composed  doggerel 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN 

From   the  Martin   portrait 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  55 

odes,  and  argued  momentous  questions  of  literature  and 
statecraft.  Ralph  went  to  London  with  Franklin  to 
live  for  a  while  on  the  young  Pennsylvania  printer's 
money  and  to  become  in  the  end  a  poet,  playwright, 
satirist  and  pamphleteer  on  Grub  Street,  his  chief  dis 
tinction  coming  from  a  two-volume  "  History  of  Eng 
land  during  the  Reigns  of  William,  Anne  and  George 
I,"  of  some  real  value,  and  the  verses  dedicated  to  him 
by  Pope  in  "  The  Dunciad  " : — 

"  Silence,  ye  wolves,  while  Ralph  to  Cynthia  howls 
And  makes  night  hideous.     Answer  him,  ye  owls!  " 

After  his  return  to  Philadelphia  and  his  entrance 
upon  life  in  serious  earnest,  Franklin  in  1727  formed 
the  Junto,  an  organization  which  for  nearly  forty  years 
met  about  at  the  houses  of  its  members  and  in  the  city 
inns  and  coffee-houses  to  discuss  curious  questions  after 
the  manner  of  a  village  debating  society,  and  of  which 
Franklin  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  it  was  u  the  best 
school  of  philosophy,  morality  and  politics  that  then 
existed  in  the  province."  To  the  meetings  of  the  Junto 
came  Joseph  Breintnal,  who  wrote  bad  verse;  Thomas 
Godfrey,  a  glazier,  with  whom  Franklin  boarded  for  a 
time,  the  future  inventor  of  the  mariner's  quadrant; 
William  Parsons,  William  Coleman  and  other  young 
men  as  ambitious  and  inquisitive  as  Franklin  himself. 
They  solemnly  asked  one  another  whether  "  elementary 
fire  "  and  the  electric  fluid  were  one  and  the  same  thing, 
what  becomes  of  all  the  water  that  flows  into  the  Medi 
terranean  Sea,  and  many  other  questions  not  now  re 
membered. 

While  in  association  with  these  men  Franklin  origi 
nated  many  of  his  humanitarian  projects.  One,  the 


56  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

American  Philosophical  Society,  the  oldest  learned  so 
ciety  in  the  country,  was  the  direct  outgrowth  of  the 
Junto.      Its  hall,  filled  with  books,  manuscripts,  pictures 
and  relics,  is  situated  behind  the  State  House  on  Fifth 
Street.     The  society  was  formed  in  1743  when  Frank 
lin  was  thirty-seven  years  old.     Conceived  in  his  prac 
tical  spirit  "  for  promoting  useful  knowledge  among  the 
British  plantations  in  America,"  it  was  to  be  a  kind  of 
clearing  house  for  information  about  plants,  animals, 
stoves,    plows    and    phosphates.     The    president    was 
Thomas  Hopkinson,  a  lawyer  and  an  experimenter  in 
electricity  (like  Franklin  and  Ebenezer  Kinnersley)  the 
father  of  Francis  Hopkinson,  the   Revolutionary  poet 
and  the  grandfather  of  Joseph  Hopkinson,  who  wrote 
"  Hail   Columbia. "      Franklin   himself  was  the  secre 
tary  and  a  number  of  men  were  delegated  to  take  charge 
of  the  different  departments  into  which  it  was  conceived 
at  the  time  that  philosophy  might  be  divided.     John 
Bartram  was  to  serve  as  botanist,  Thomas  Godfrey  as 
mathematician,  Dr.  Thomas  Bond  as  physician,  Samuel 
Rhoads  as  mechanician,  William  Parsons  as  geographer, 
and  Dr.  Phineas  Bond  as  general  natural  philosopher. 
Of  these  Bartram  and  Godfrey  gained  the  distinction 
of  having  their  names  remembered  in  another  century. 
As  early  as  1728  Bartram,  whom  Linnaeus  described  as 
the  greatest  natural  botanist  of  the  age,  had  begun  his 
garden,  which  is  still  preserved,  though  in  some  dilapi 
dation,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Schuylkill  near  Gray's 
Ferry.     He  travelled  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  Florida, 
studying  and  collecting  slips  and  seeds  of  all  kinds  of 
indigenous  trees  which  he  described  for  the  advantage 
of  the  botanists  of  Europe.      It  is  said  of  him,  too,  that 
he  built  three  houses  with  his  own  hands,  even  blasting 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  57 

and  hewing  the  rock,  sometimes  being  seen  at  work  in 
the  moonlight.  He  died  a  few  days  before  the  battle 
of  Brandywine,  in  fear  that  the  British  army  would  lay 
waste  to  his  beloved  gardens. 

Thomas  Godfrey  was  a  natural  genius  of  another 
kind.  He  was  a  glazier,  of  a  humble  position  in  the 
world,  which  is  not  exalted  very  greatly  by  Watson's 
reminding  us  that  glaziers  of  the  time  did  not  fit  glass 
panes  into  wooden  sash,  but  soldered  them  into  leaden 
frames.  To  the  editors  of  the  "  American  Magazine  " 
he  seemed  to  be  u  one  of  the  most  singular  phenomena 
that  ever  appeared  in  the  learned  world."  One  day, 
while  at  work  at  his  trade  in  Mulberry  Street,  a  young 
girl  came  to  a  pump  and  filled  a  pail  with  water,  which 
was  left  upon  the  sidewalk.  The  sun's  rays  were  re 
flected  from  Godfrey's  pane  to  the  pail  of  water  and 
then  to  his  eye,  thus  completing  a  triangle,  which  is  said 
to  have  suggested  to  the  glazier's  mind  the  idea  that 
in  1730  became  the  basis  for  the  double  reflecting  sea 
quadrant.  Prior  to  this  time  English  mariners  had 
been  using  Davis's  Bow  to  ascertain  their  latitude  and 
longitude  while  at  sea,  but  it  could  not  be  adjusted  in  a 
storm.  Godfrey  gave  the  subject  his  careful  study, 
taught  himself  Latin  in  order  to  read  Newton's  "  Prin- 
cipia,"  which  he  borrowed  from  James  Logan,  and 
endeavored  with  the  latter's  assistance  to  have  the  value 
of  his  invention  recognized  in  England.  Meantime  he 
determined  to  have  the  device  tested  on  a  ship  bound 
for  the  West  Indies  where,  in  Jamaica,  it  was  exhibited 
or  presented  to  an  English  sea  captain.  Thus  the 
important  discovery  came  into  the  possession  of  Hadley, 
a  mathematical  instrument  maker  in  London,  whose 
name  it  usually  bears,  in  spite  of  the  prolonged  exertions 


58  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

of  influential  Americans  in  the  eighteenth  century  tor 
have  Godfrey's  claims  established  and  honored. 

But  with  all  these  men  in  his  group,  Franklin's  Phil 
osophical  Society  failed  like  his  German  newspaper,  his 
magazine  and  his  first  plans  for  the  establishment  of  a 
college.  Twenty-five  years  passed  before  the  sugges 
tion  bore  important  fruit,  wrhen  two  rival  societies  en 
tered  the  field,  being  consolidated  fortunately  in  1769 
under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Franklin.  For  twenty-one 
years,  or  until  his  death  in  1790,  he  continued  to  hold 
the  office  and  the  Transactions  of  this  old  society  of 
philosophers,  then  only  another  name  for  the  curious 
regarding  all  subjects,  are  an  expression  of  that  prac 
tical,  utilitarian  and  inquiring  spirit  which  is  typical  of 
Franklin  and  his  age.  The  scientist  to-day  chuckles  at 
such  science,  but  the  association  soon  numbered  among 
its  members  Americans  eminent  in  many  fields,  while  its 
president's  growing  reputation  in  France  brought  it  dis 
tinguished  correspondents  in  Europe  and  spread  its  fame 
widely.  Franklin  himself,  while  coming  home  from 
France,  was  diverted  in  calm  weather  by  writing  his 
letter  to  the  philosophers  "  on  the  causes  and  cure  of 
smoky  chimneys,"  which  he  explains  are  chimneys  that 
instead  of  "  carrying  up  all  the  smoke  discharge  a  part 
of  it  into  the  room,  offending  the  eyes  and  damaging  the 
furniture."  He  also  describes  in  the  Transactions  of 
the  society  a  new  stove  for  burning  pit  coal,  while 
Thomas  Jefferson's  interest  in  husbandry  is  evidenced 
by  his  model  of  "  a  hand  threshing  machine,"  invented 
by  a  Virginian,  and  his  communication  in  regard  to  a 
new  plow-share. 

Natural  history  had  many  devoted  students.  Amer 
ica  was  a  great  boneyard  which,  before  the  fertilizer 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  59 

companies  despatched  their  agents  everywhere,  afforded 
much  that  was  of  curious  concern  to  naturalists.  Skele 
tons  of  strange  animals,  tusks,  antlers  and  "  grinders  " 
came  pouring  into  the  society's  museum.  Jefferson  de 
scribed  "  certain  bones  of  a  quadruped  of  the  clawed 
kind,"  found  in  western  Virginia.  Another  member 
offered  an  Indian  legend  about  "  the  big  naked  bear." 
He  reported  that  the  bear,  naked  all  over  except  for  a 
spot  of  white  hair  upon  its  back,  was  the  most  ferocious 
of  American  animals.  It  devoured  man  and  beast  and 
was  so  large  that  an  Indian  or  a  common  bear  served 
it  for  but  a  single  meal.  Its  heart  was  so  small  that  the 
arrow  could  seldom  find  it.  It  could  be  slain  only  by  a 
blow  deftly  dealt  upon  its  backbone,  and  many  who 
went  forth  to  hunt  this  terror  of  the  forest  primeval  did 
not  return. 

Other  philosophers  interested  themselves  in  living 
objects  and  we  have  luminous  accounts  of  "  amphibious 
serpents,"  "  one  partridge  with  two  hearts,"  "  the  numb 
fish  or  torporific  eel  "  and  "  a  living  snake  in  a  living 
horse's  eye."  This  horse  had  been  placed  on  exhibition 
in  Philadelphia  by  a  free  negro  who  endeavored  to 
profit  by  the  popular  curiosity  for  disagreeable  sights. 

More  scientific  and  more  useful  were  the  society's 
services  in  encouraging  silk  worm  culture,  in  surveying 
a  route  for  a  canal  which  should  join  the  bays  of  Dela 
ware  and  Chesapeake,  and  best  of  all  were  the  observa 
tions  of  the  transit  of  Venus  it  so  successfully  made 
through  telescopes  mounted  in  the  State  House  yard 
and  at  David  Rittenhouse's  near  Norristown,  which 
called  out  the  warm  praises  of  European  astronomers. 
At  all  times  it  was  the  embodiment  of  practicality,  an 
agency  hostile  to  aristocracy  in  government,  finality  in 


60  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

religion,  art,  science  and  invention  —  indeed,  to  settled 
tradition  in  any  field.  After  Franklin's  death,  in  the 
hands  of  David  Rittenhouse,  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
Peter  S.  Duponceau,  it  was  still  a  centre  of  radical  ex 
pression,  and  it  is  for  its  part  in  interpreting  the  domi 
nating  spirit  of  the  age  that  it  deserves  such  extended 
consideration  in  this  connection. 

In  this  strong  current  of  materialism,  there  were  left 
by  good  fortune  a  few  insular  points  at  which  beauty 
and  sentiment  still  reigned.  Idealism  could  thrive  only 
sparingly;  it  was  remarkable  that  it  prospered  at  all. 
Franklin  had  originally  intended  that  the  college  he  had 
it  in  his  mind  to  establish  should  be  in  charge  of  Rev. 
Richard  Peters,  who  was  then  out  of  employment. 
Mr.  Peters  had  other  plans  for  himself,  and  at  length 
two  or  three  useful  masters  were  secured.  The  Acad 
emy,  for  at  first  it  was  not  more  than  this,  found  a 
home  in  a  great  building  which  had  been  erected  in 
Fourth  Street,  near  Mulberry  Street,  as  a  meeting  place 
for  the  crowds  that  came  to  hear  Whitefield  preach.  It 
was  used  by  the  great  evangelist  while  yet  there  was  no 
roof  over  it,  and  at  his  going  it  was  appropriated  for  the 
purposes  of  the  school.  In  1751  a  young  Scotchman, 
William  Smith,  lately  graduated  at  Aberdeen,  came  to 
America  as  the  tutor  of  two  boys  who  had  been  travel 
ing  in  England  and  were  returning  to  their  home  on 
Long  Island.  Upon  arriving  in  New  York  he  published 
a  pamphlet  entitled  "  A  General  Idea  of  the  College  of 
Mirania,"  an  idealistic  plan  for  a  seat  of  learning  which 
he  hoped  might  be  established  in  that  city.  Copies  of 
this  publication  falling  into  the  hands  of  Richard  Peters 
and  Benjamin  Franklin,  the  latter  wrote  to  Smith  that 
they  had  in  Philadelphia  the  Mirania;  their  task  now 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  61 

was  to  find  the  Aratus,  the  fictitious  personage  whom 
Smith  had  named  as  the  head  of  his  college.  The  young 
Scotchman  was  soon  invited  to  come  to  Philadelphia,  but 
first  returned  to  England  late  in  1753  to  take  holy  or 
ders  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  being  inducted  as  Provost 
of  the  Academy,  which  became  a  college  with  the  power 
to  grant  degrees  in  May,  1754,  the  beginning  of  a  long 
period  of  loyal  service  to  the  intellectual  interests  of  the 
colony. 

Smith's  relations  with  the  educational  centres  of 
Great  Britain  were  close,  as  was  shown  by  his  soon 
receiving  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Aber 
deen,  Oxford  and  Dublin.  He  made  himself  a  tower 
of  influence  in  a  great  variety  of  ways, —  moral,  social, 
political,  scientific  and  pedagogical,  and  as  a  patron  of 
belles  lettres.  He  was  the  intimate  companion  of  his 
pupils  as  well  as  their  teacher,  and  was  soon  graduating 
such  boys  as  Jacob  Duche,  Francis  Hopkinson,  Paul 
Jackson  and  Nathaniel  Evans,  who  had  a  new  under 
standing  of  the  meaning  of  life.  John  Adams  de 
scribed  Dr.  Smith  as  "  soft,  polite,  insinuating,  adulat 
ing,  sensible,  learned,  industrious,  indefatigable."  He 
was  also  a  man  of  the  most  decided  opinions  upon  the 
greatest  variety  of  subjects,  and  belligerent  to  a  fault 
when  he  believed  his  cause  was  just.  The  press  in 
Pennsylvania  was  not  yet  free.  William  Bradford  had 
felt  the  force  of  public  displeasure  and  his  son  Andrew 
was  severely  admonished  in  1721  for  printing  a  para 
graph  in  the  "  Mercury  "  as  seemingly  innocent  as  the 
following:  "  The  prodigious  fall  of  South  Sea  stock  has 
ruined  thousands.  Several  gentlemen  who  kept  their 
coaches  before  they  dipt  into  South  Sea  are  now  forced 
to  walk  on  foot.  By  the  same  turn  of  Fortune's  wheel 


62  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

footmen  and  cookmaids  loll  in  their  gilded  chariots  and 
smile  at  the  fate  of  their  quondam  masters." 

In  1758  William  Smith,  taking  sides  against  the 
Quakers  in  their  attitude  of  non-resistance,  while  Ger 
mans  and  Presbyterians  were  being  scalped  by  Indians 
on  the  frontiers,  was  conducted  to  the  Walnut  Street 
prison  for  publishing  in  the  newspaper  with  which  he 
aimed  to  instruct  the  German  inhabitants  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  the  address  of  William  Moore  of  Moore  Hall, 
Chester  County,  harshly  criticizing  the  Assembly  which 
had  prepared  and  published  "  a  most  virulent  and  slan 
derous  address,"  as  Moore  alleged,  charging  him  "  in 
the  bitterest  terms  with  divers  misdemeanors  and  corrupt 
practices."  The  document  forming  the  basis  for  the 
legal  attack  upon  Smith  stated  that  the  address  against 
which  the  appeal  was  directed  appeared  "  to  agree  well 
enough  with  the  motives  of  its  authors,  and  abettors. 
It  is  from  beginning  to  end  one  continued  string  of  the 
severest  calumny  and  most  rancorous  epithets,  conceived 
in  all  the  terms  of  malice  and  party  rage  exaggerated 
and  heaped  upon  one  another  in  the  most  lavish  man 
ner."  For  causing  such  language  to  be  published  Smith 
was  sent  to  prison,  where  he  continued  to  teach  his 
pupils  who  went  thither  to  receive  his  instruction,  and 
later  he  took  passage  for  England  to  enter  an  appeal  in 
his  own  behalf  before  the  higher  British  authorities. 
He  married  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Moore  of  Moore  Hall 
on  the  strength  of  an  acquaintance  so  oddly  begun  and 
had  a  number  of  children,  one  of  whom,  Williamina, 
remained  in  the  city  during  British  occupancy  with  her 
aunt,  Mrs.  Phineas  Bond,  being  one  of  the  young  ladies 
greatly  admired  by  Major  Andre  and  the  British  officers 
at  the  famous  Meschianza  ball;  while  the  rest  of  the 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  63 

family  resided  on  Barbadoes  Island  in  the  Schuylkill 
opposite  Norristown,  within  sight  of  Washington's 
army  at  Valley  Forge,  a  picturesquely  situated  piece  of 
land  lately  taken  by  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading 
Railroad  for  the  piers  of  a  steel  bridge.  He  returned 
to  the  city  upon  its  evacuation  by  the  British  and  re 
opened  his  college. 

Suspected  of  Tory  sympathies,  which  he  no  doubt 
felt,  Dr.  Smith  was  hotly  pursued  by  the  Pennsylvania 
Dantons  and  Robespierres.  Accused  of  disloyalty  to 
the  cause  of  independence  and  of  servility  to  the  Church 
of  England,  the  school  was  closed  in  1779,  to  make  way 
for  a  new  institution  called  the  University  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  after  twenty-six  years'  residence  in  the  city 
he  was  obliged  to  betake  himself  and  his  large  family 
to  Maryland,  where  he  assumed  the  charge  of  a  parish 
for  six  hundred  bushels  of  wheat  per  annum.  In  1789 
he  returned  to  Pennsylvania  and  succeeded  in  getting 
back  the  charter  and  estates  of  the  College,  which  two 
years  later  was  united  with  the  University,  still  the  ob 
ject  of  general  ridicule,  as  an  educational  establishment, 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  of  to-day  being  the  di 
rect  descendant  of  the  union. 

Smith  had  not  long  been  Provost  when  his  practical 
interest  in  intellectual  affairs  in  the  colony  was  mani 
fested  in  an  effort  to  found  a  literary  review  called 
"  The  American  Magazine  and  Monthly  Chronicle  for 
the  British  Colonies."  It  was  printed  by  the  Brad- 
fords,  presumably  for  "  a  society  of  gentlemen,"  which 
in  truth  consisted  of  Dr.  Smith  and  several  of  his  pupils 
in  the  College.  Pennsylvania  had  not  yet  had  a  suc 
cessful  magazine.  Franklin  had  proposed  one  in  1740 
with  John  Webbe  as  the  editor.  Before  it  appeared, 


64  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Webbe  carried  the  idea  to  the  Bradfords  and  in  Febru 
ary,  1741,  the  first  number  of  "  The  American  Maga 
zine  or  a  Monthly  View  of  the  Political  State  of  the 
British  Colonies "  made  its  appearance  in  the  field. 
Franklin,  not  to  be  outdone,  put  on  sale  three  days  later 
his  "  General  Magazine  and  Historical  Chronicle  for 
all  the  British  Plantations  of  America."  Neither  of 
these  periodicals  lived  long  or  had  cause  for  existence. 
Bradford's  was  published  for  about  three  months  and 
Franklin's  for  six.  They  contained  little  that  was  not 
given  in  the  newspapers,  chiefly  excerpts  from  the  En 
glish  parliamentary  debates  in  regard  to  America,  and 
poems  and  articles  reprinted  from  British  reviews  or 
perhaps  extracted  from  editions  of  the  works  of  British 
authors. 

Smith's  "  American  Magazine "  made  its  first  ap 
pearance  in  October,  1757,  and  continued  for  a  year, 
when  it  was  given  up,  less,  it  seems,  because  of  its 
unprofitableness  than  because  of  its  editor's  dispute  with 
the  Assembly,  which  sent  him  first  to  prison  and  then  to 
England.  It  had  the  distinct  stamp  of  America,  being 
filled  with  original  material, —  poems,  essays,  scientific 
articles,  etc.,  written  by  Smith  himself  or  by  the  young 
men  whom  he  drew  about  him  at  the  College.  In  this 
magazine  many  of  the  poems  of  Thomas  Godfrey,  Jr., 
were  printed,  to  be  copied  appreciatively  by  the  British 
reviews,  and  substantial  support  was  given  to  a  group 
of  truly  sincere  literary  people  of  much  poetic  feeling 
and  of  lofty  intellectual  aim,  the  chief  of  whom  after 
Mr.  Godfrey  were  Nathaniel  Evans  and  Elizabeth 
Graeme  Ferguson. 

It  may  be  said  unequivocally  that  Pennsylvania  had 
no  poets  prior  to  the  appearance  on  the  scene  of  this 


THE 

AMERICAN     MAGAZINE, 


VALEB  IT^/E  QTJI  OH- 


0    R 


MONTHLY  CHRONICLEfof  the  BRITISH  Colonies. 
NM-    Vol.  I.  FOR  OCTOBER 


C    O 


T   A    1 


I    N 


I.  The  GENERAL  PREFACE. 
tl.  EUROPEAN  AFFAIRS, 
JII.ACCOUNT    of  the  NORTH- 

AMERICAN  INDIANS. 
IV.  The  PHILOSOPHICAL  MISCEL* 

LANY. 


V,  MONTHLY  ESSAYS:  viz. 
Tht  Planted  N".  I.  Tit  Htfmit. 
POETICAL  ESSAYS. 

VI.  MONTHLY  CHRONICLE  of 
AMERICAN  AFFAIRS. 


To  be  continued  (Price  One  Shilling  Ptnnfjfoania  Currency  each  Month) 
By   aSQCIETYof   Gentlemen, 

""  V'entatis  cultorc*,   Freudis   in!mic>< 

Prim«d  artd  Sold  by  WIILIAM  BRADFORD^  at  the  Corner-Houfe  o^ 
front  and  Mfirkt-Strettt. 


TITLE  PAGE  OF  DR.  SMITH'S  "  AMERICAN  MAGAZINE 


66  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

interesting  group.*  Antiquarians  have  found  several 
claimants,  such  as  Taylor  the  almanac-maker;  Breintnal 
of  the  Junto;  and  Keimer,  the  long-bearded  printer  who 
anticipated  the  poet  of  this  day  whose  muse  sometimes 
works  at  the  typewriter.  He  was  composing  verses 
at  his  case  without  the  medium  of  pen  or  paper  when 
Franklin  stopped  in  to  ask  for  employment  at  the  print 
ing  trade.  The  subject  of  Keimer' s  poetic  interest  was 
an  elegy  to  Aquila  Rose,  who  was  clerk  of  the  Assem 
bly,  a  reputed  poet  and  the  proprietor  of  a  ferry  across 
the  Schuylkill  River  at  Market  Street  In  the  spring 
of  1723,  the  waters  being  high,  he  lost  his  boat  and 
waded  in  the  "  chilling  flood  "  when  "  a  cold  ill  humor 
mingled  with  his  blood."  Death  resulted  from  this 
experience,  the  young  man  being  greatly  mourned  by 
the  citizens,  who  attended  his  funeral  numerously  on 
foot  and  horse.  Keimer  wrote : — 

"  In  sable  characters  the  news  is  read, 
Our  Rose  is  withered  and  our  Eagle's  fled 
In  this  that  our  Aquila  Rose  is  dead." 

While  it  was  further  said  of  Rose  that  he  was 

"  A  lively  poet  whose  sweet,  fragrant  name 
Will  last  till  circling  years  shall  cease  to  be 
And  sink  in  vast,  profound  eternity," 

we  have  little  to  remember  him  by  today  except  the 
slender  volume  published  in  1740  by  his  son,  Joseph 
Rose,  who  laments  that  by  this  time  many  of  his  father's 
"  best  pieces  "  have  been  u  lent  out  "  by  his  mother  "  to 

*  See  the  articles  by  Joshua  Francis  Fisher  and  Francis  Howard 
Williams  in  the  Publications  of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society. 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  67 

persons  who  have  forgot  to  return  them."  With  char 
ity  for  those  that  were  not  in  the  editor's  hands,  it  may 
be  said  of  the  verse  included  in  the  little  volume  that  it 
does  not  attest  very  highly  to  Rose's  character  as  a 
poet,  or  to  the  critical  sense  of  the  people  of  that 
age  in  Philadelphia  by  whom  it  was  so  cordially  ad 
mired. 

Thomas  Godfrey,  Jr.,  had  few  more  cultural  oppor 
tunities  than  his  father,  the  glazier,  who  invented  the 
mariner's  quadrant.  The  two,  the  younger  man's 
friend  Nathaniel  Evans  said,  are  "  to  be  ranked  among 
the  natural  curiosities  of  Pennsylvania."  Thomas 
Godfrey,  Jr.,  born  in  1736,  had  no  education  that  he 
did  not  gain  in  the  common  schools,  but  he  early  read 
the  English  poets  industriously  and  aspired  to  portrait 
painting.  Unable  to  indulge  his  tastes  in  that  direc 
tion,  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  watchmaker,  but  was  soon 
cultivating  the  muse.  A  poem  called  "  Invitation," 
which  was  sent  to  the  "  American  Magazine,"  met  the 
editor's  favor,  and  Dr.  Smith  drew  the  young  man  into 
his  circle,  introducing  him  to  Francis  Hopkinson  and 
Benjamin  West.  To  the  latter  Godfrey  was  much 
attracted  because  of  his  own  natural  interest  in  art. 
West  had  just  come  up  to  the  city  from  Chester  County 
to  be  pronounced  by  Smith  in  the  magazine  "  an  ex 
traordinary  genius  "  who  unaided  had  acquired  "  such 
a  delicacy  and  correctness  of  expression  in  his  paintings, 
joined  to  such  laudable  thirst  of  improvement  that  we 
are  persuaded  when  he  shall  have  more  experience,  and 
proper  opportunities  of  viewing  the  works  of  able  mas 
ters  he  will  become  truly  eminent  in  his  profession." 
Godfrey  and  West  wandered  together  on  the  banks  of 
the  Schuylkill  or  angled  in  the  pools  formed  by  the 


68  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

windings  of  the  river.     They  could  enjoy  the  meaning 
of  Evans's  lines: — 

"  Often  with  care  opprest,  I  pensive  stray 
Where  Schuylkill  winds  her  solitary  way. 
Beneath  some  mountain's  wild,  romantic  brow, 
Whose  pendent  cliffs  alarm  the  flood  below, 
I  lay  me  down  —  t'  indulge  the  solemn  hour 
And  yield  myself  to  contemplation's  pow'r." 

It  was  through  Provost  Smith's  influence  that  God 
frey  in  1758  secured  a  lieutenant's  commission  for  the 
expedition  against  Fort  Duquesne,  returning  from 
which  he  went  to  North  Carolina,  where  he  found  com 
mercial  employment  for  three  years.  There,  while  still 
only  twenty-three  years  old,  he  finished  "  The  Prince  of 
Parthia,"  a  poetic  tragedy  of  lively  promise  which  was 
acted  on  April  24,  1767,  by  the  stock  company  then 
playing  at  the  new  South  Street  Theatre  in  Philadel 
phia.  This  was  the  first  play  by  an  American  writer 
to  be  presented  on  any  American  stage,  and  it  was  "  no 
inconsiderable  effort,"  said  his  friend  Evans,  "  towards 
one  of  the  sublimest  species  of  poetry."  Upon  the 
death  of  his  employer  in  the  South,  Godfrey  came  back 
to  Philadelphia,  but  was  soon  away  again  with  some 
commissions  to  be  executed  in  the  island  of  New  Prov 
idence.  After  a  few  months  he  determined  to  return 
to  his  home,  but  first  stopped  with  his  friends  in  North 
Carolina,  where,  taking  a  ride  in  the  country  on  a  hot 
day  in  August,  1763,  he  contracted  a  fever,  of  which 
he  died  after  but  a  short  illness. 

His  friend  and  fellow  poet,  Nathaniel  Evans,  and 
his  patron,  Dr.  Smith,  edited  his  writings  which  were 
published  in  1765,  most  of  the  prominent  men  of  the 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  69 

city  being  numbered  among  the  subscribers  —  Governor 
John  Penn,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Joseph  Galloway,  Rob 
ert  Morris,  Professor  Kinnersley,  Richard  Peters,  Ben 
jamin  Rush,  the  Aliens,  Bonds,  Hopkinsons  and  Chews. 
Dr.  Smith,  as  well  as  other  critics  of  the  time,  found  in 
Godfrey  a  deficiency  of  classical  learning,  a  rather  im 
portant  item  in  the  equipment  of  a  poet  who  was  so 
fond  of  classical  themes.  Many  of  the  Provost's  objec 
tions  seem  trivial  and  hypercritical,  however,  as  when 
complaint  is  made  of  these  lines  in  "  The  Prince  of 
Parthia":— 

"  Droop,  droop,  ye  groves;  ye  plains  in  silence  mourn, 
Let  nought  be  gay  'till  Alexis  return." 

The  accent  is  not  thrown  upon  the  proper  syllable 
in  the  word  Alexis,  but  the  mistake,  small  at  most, 
seems  the  more  forgivable  when  it  is  known  that  the 
word  is  rightly  accented  elsewhere.  What  prevents 
Godfrey  from  being  an  American  Keats  is  no  such  im 
perfection  in  poetic  craftsmanship,  but  a  lack,  when  his 
work  is  taken  in  the  large,  of  original  fancy,  a  defect 
which  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  might  have  been  over 
come  had  his  life  been  prolonged  past  the  years  that 
to  other  men  are  usually  a  period  of  apprenticeship  to 
literature.  In  "  The  Court  of  Fancy,"  in  which  the 
"  American  Magazine  "  said  that  he  "  shone  in  all  the 
spirit  of  true  creative  poetry,"  may  be  found  much  of 
Godfrey's  best  writing.  Here  he  says : — 

"  Astronomy  with  proud,  aspiring  eye 
Gaz'd  on  the  glowing  beauties  of  the  sky. 
Her  vest  with  glitt'ring  stars  was  spangled  o'er 
And  in  her  hand  a  telescope  she  bore; 


70  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

With  this  she  marks  the  rolling  planet's  way 
Or  where  portentous  comets  dreadful  stray." 

In  the  same  poem  appears  a  description  of  the  vanity 
and  emptiness  of  fashionable  life: — 

"  The  next  to  her  approach'd  a  reverend  dame, 
In  trophies  great,  from  insects  torn,  she  came; 
With  stately  step  she  trod  the  plain  along 
And  threw  her  treasure  'mid  th'  admiring  throng. 
Forward  with  joy  each  curious  mortal  sprang, 
This  caught  a  gaudy  wing  and  that  a  pointed  fang." 

Godfrey  could  also  tread  a  lighter  measure,  as  in  his 
"  verses  to  a  young  lady  asking  for  a  cure  for  love  " : — 

".From  me,  my  dear,  O!  seek  not  to  receive 
What  e'en  deep-read  experience  cannot  give. 
We  may  indeed  from  the  physician's  skill 
Some  med'cine  find  to  cure  the  body's  ill, 
But  whoe'er  found  the  physic  for  the  soul  ?  " 

He  continues: — 

"  Reason,  'tis  true,  may  point  the  rocky  shore, 
And  shew  the  danger,  but  can  serve  no  more; 
From  wave  to  wave  the  wretched  wreck  is  tos't, 
And  reason's  in  th'  impetuous  torrent  lost." 

His  lines  "  To  Sylvia  "  begin: — 

"  Then  hear  me,  proud  Sylvia,  nor  boast  your  bright  charms, 
Which  ev'ry  fond  bosom  so  pow'rfully  warms  [sic], 
While  thus  like  an  image  of  life,  but  a  show, 
You're  swayed  by  no  passion,  no  pleasure  you'll  know." 

It  has  been  said  that  he  correctly  expressed  the  judg 
ment  on  his  own  career  in  "  The  Court  of  Fancy  " : — 

"  Bold  Fancy's  hand  th'  amazing  pile  uprears, 
In  every  part  stupendous  skill  appears; 


THE 

COURT  OF  FANCY; 


POEM. 


BT    THOMAS  GODFREY. 


And  as  Imagination  Mies  forth 
We  Forms  of  Things  unknown ;  the  Poefs  Pen 
Turns  tbem  to  Sbapc,  and  gives  to  airy  Nothing 
A  local  Habitation*  and  a  Name. 

SHAKESPEAR. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

Printed    and  Sold  by  WILLIAM  DUNLAP,    M,DCC,LXIL 

TITLE  PAGE  OF  THOMAS  GODFREY'S  "  COURT  OF  FANCY" 


72  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

In  beautiful  disorder,  yet  compleat, 
The  structure  shines  irregularly  great." 

Nathaniel  Evans  had  more  classical  polish  and  more 
reason  for  it,  but  he  undoubtedly  possessed  less  natural 
genius  than  Godfrey.  He  also  died  very  young,  be 
fore  he  could  exhibit  his  art  at  its  best.  He  was  born 
in  Philadelphia  in  1742,  being  therefore  six  years  the 
junior  of  his  friend.  He  was  the  son  of  a  merchant, 
and  after  six  years  in  the  Academy,  where  he  endeared 
himself  to  Provost  Smith,  he  was  put  into  a  counting- 
house.  This  life  being  uncongenial  to  him,  he  returned 
to  the  College,  where,  in  1765,  he  got  his  A.M.  without 
having  previously  taken  his  bachelor's  degree.  Going 
to  London,  he  received  holy  orders  in  the  Church  of 
England  and  returned  to  become  a  missionary  to 
Gloucester  County,  New  Jersey,  his  home  being  at 
Haddonfield.  He  was  to  continue  at  his  post  only  two 
years,  for  in  1767  he  died  of  consumption  in  the  twen 
ty-sixth  year  of  his  age. 

In  1772  Provost  Smith  edited  Evans's  poems,  which 
like  Godfrey's,  were  sold  by  subscription  to  the  patrons 
of  literature  and  the  public-spirited  merchants  in  Phil 
adelphia.  "  He  was  my  pupil,"  said  the  Provost  in 
his  preface  to  the  book,  "  and  truly  dear  and  affection 
ate  to  me  in  his  whole  demeanor."  Pecuniary  assur 
ances  were  also  received  from  other  quarters,  since 
fifty  copies  went  to  a  bookseller  in  Charleston,  S.  C, 
fifty  copies  to  New  York,  twenty-five  copies  to  Quebec 
and  thirty  to  the  Barbadoes,  while  the  name  of  Oliver 
Goldsmith  appears  upon  the  list  of  subscribers. 

This  volume  presupposes  a  comical  ignorance  among 
those  into  whose  hands  it  might  come,  founded  perhaps 
upon  its  editor's  experience  with  poetry  in  America. 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  73 

When  the  poet  speaks  of  "  the  unerring  archer  blind  " 
we  are  bade  to  look  down  the  page  and  learn  that  Cupid 
is  intended.  Again,  a  star  to  the  line,  "  O  Wolfe  on 
Abram's  purpled  plain,"  calls  our  attention  to  the  fact 
that  Wolfe  routed  the  French  on  a  battlefield  called  the 
Plains  of  Abraham,  near  Quebec. 

Philadelphia's  literary  men  of  that  early  day  made 
a  commendable  effort  to  utilize  the  scenes  that  lay  near 
to  their  hands,  and  loyally  sought  to  encourage  and 
support  each  other.  Evans  was  a  boy  of  only  sixteen 
when  he  wrote  his  "  Pastoral  Eclogue,"  beginning  with 
these  lines: — 

"  Shall  fam'd  Arcadia  own  the  tuneful  choir 
And  fair  Sicilia  boast  the  matchless  lyre  ? 
Shall  Gallia's  groves  resound  with  heav'nly  lays, 
And  Albion's  poets  claim  immortal  bays? 
And  this  new  world  ne'er  feel  the  muse's  fire ; 
No  beauties  charm  us,  or  no  deeds  inspire? 
O  Pennsylvania,  shall  no  son  of  thine 
Glow  with  the  raptures  of  the  sacred  nine?" 

Proceeding  the  young  poet  wrote : — 

"  Fired  with  the  thought,  I  court  the  sylvan  muse, 
Her  magic  influence  o'er  me  to  diffuse, 
Whilst  I  aspire  to  wake  the  rural  reed 
And  sing  of  swains  whose  snowy  lambkins  feed 
On  Schuylkill's  banks  with  shady  walnuts  crown'd, 
And  bid  the  vales  with  music  melt  around." 

In  this  poem  one  of  young  Evans's  shepherd  swains 
declares: — 

"  The  breeze  that  shakes  the  spangl'd  dew-drops  'round, 
The  swelling  flootls  that  burst  the  meadows'  bound, 


74  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Are  not  more  wav'ring  than  the  female  mind! 
Wild  as  the  waves,  unstable  as  the  wind." 

These  young  poets  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  Amer 
ica  felt  that  they  were  singing  to  a  cold  and  unappre- 
ciative  audience.  In  an  ode  Evans  writes: — 

"  Let  wretched  misers  clasp  their  ore, 
And  vulgar  breasts  in  sense  delight ; 
The  muse  shall  purer  joys  explore, 
And  wing  a  more  exalted  flight." 

To  Godfrey  he  wrote  when  his  friend  was  afar  off, 
fortune  hunting: — 

"  While  you,  dear  Tom,  are  forc'd  to  roam 
In  search  of  fortune,  far  from  home, 

O'er  bogs,  o'er  seas  and  mountains; 
I,  too,  debar'd  the  soft  retreat 
Of  shady  groves  and  murmurs  sweet 

Of  silver  prattling  fountains, 
Must  mingle  with  the  bustling  throng 
And  bear  my  load  of  cares  along, 

Like  any  other  sinner; 
For  where's  the  ecstasy  in  this, 
To  loiter  in  poetic  bliss 

And  go  without  a  dinner?  " 

He  argues  that  poetry  might  have  had  appreciation 
in  another  land,  in  another  age: — 

"  But,  dearest  Tom,  these  days  are  past 
And  we  are  in  a  climate  cast 

Where  few  the  muse  can  relish; 
Where  all  the  doctrine  now  that's  told 
Is  that  a  shining  heap  of  gold 
Alone  can  man  embellish." 


'<*&&J&*^^ 


DAPHNIS  AND  MENALCAS, 


PASTORAL 
ECLOGUE. 

WRITTEN     1758. 


SHALL  fam'd  Arcadia  own  the  tuneful  choir, 
And  fair  Sicilia  boaft  the  matchlefs  lyre  ? 
Shall  Gallia's  groves  refound  with  heav'nly  lays, 
And  Albion's  poets  claim  immortal  bays  ? 
And  this  new  world  ne'er  feel  the  mufe's  fire* 
No  beauties  charm  us,  or  no  deeds  infpire  ? 
O  Pennfylvania  !  fhall  no  fon  of  thine 
Glow  with  the  raptures  of  the  facred  nine  ? 


A  PAGE  FROM  NATHANIEL  EVANS'S  "  POEMS  " 


76  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Evans  had  the  most  exalted  ideals  for  poetry. 
"  There  is,"  said  he,  "  a  pleasing  je  ne  scay  [sic]  quoi 
in  the  productions  of  poetic  genius  which  is  easier  felt 
than  described.  It  is  the  voice  of  nature  in  the  poet, 
operating  like  a  charm  on  the  soul  of  the  reader.  It  is 
the  marvellous  conception,  the  noble  wildness,  the  lofty 
sentiment,  the  fire  and  enthusiasm  of  spirit,  the  living 
imagery,  the  requisite  choice  of  words,  the  variety,  the 
sweetness,  the  majesty  of  numbers,  and  the  irresistible 
magic  of  expression." 

The  prose  writer,  he  said,  might  "  warm  his  reader, 
but  the  poet's  it  is  to  wrap  him  in  a  flame,  to  dissolve 
him  as  it  were  in  his  own  rapturous  blaze." 

From  Evans  it  is  an  easy  step  to  Miss  Graeme,  after 
wards  Mrs.  Ferguson,  his  "  Laura."  She  resided,  in 
summer  at  least,  at  Graeme  Park.  Sir  William  Keith, 
a  Scotchman,  who  was  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania 
from  1716  to  1726,  purchased  an  estate  of  1,200  acres 
for  £500  in  a  forest  near  the  Old  York  Road  in  Hor- 
sham  township,  about  three  miles  above  Hatboro,  and 
built  upon  it  a  fine  manor  house,  today  one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  the  state's  colonial  landmarks.  Keith 
married  a  widow,  Ann  Diggs,  whose  daughter  Ann,  the 
belle  of  his  household,  became  the  wife  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Graeme,  a  very  distinguished  leech  in  Philadelphia  in 
his  day,  Port  Physician,  and  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  To  Graeme  the  Horsham  estate  finally  passed 
and  it  was  laid  out  with  parks,  lakes  and  vistas  of  shrub 
bery  and  trees,  being  stocked  with  birds,  fish,  flocks  of 
sheep  and  wild  game  animals  until  it  suggested  the 
country  seat  of  an  English  nobleman.  The  most  im 
portant  folk  of  the  time  visited  at  Graeme  Park,  and 
the  Doctor's  daughter,  Elizabeth,  enjoyed  social  op- 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  77 

portunities  denied  to  most  other  women  of  the  period. 
Fragile,  reflective  and  romantic,  the  girl  very  early  had 
an  unfortunate  love  affair  and  was  sent  to  England  in 
the  care  of  Dr.  Richard  Peters  for  a  change  of  scene. 
That  goodly  man  introduced  her  to  the  King  and  to 
many  of  the  leading  personages  in  the  London  of  that 
day,  from  whom  she  received  much  deserved  attention. 
Returning  she  was  the  companion  on  shipboard  of 
young  Nathaniel  Evans,  who  seems  to  have  been  the 
means  of  causing  her  to  forget  some  of  the  bitterness 
of  her  unhappy  romance,  though  they  scarcely  were 
lovers,  despite  a  common  belief.  They  addressed 
verses  to  each  other  upon  their  return  home,  he  to  live 
in  Haddonfield,  N.  J.,  in  the  midst  of  his  flock,  and 
she  at  Graeme  Park.  Under  the  name  of  "  Laura  " 
she  had  written  a  parody  upon  one  of  his  poems.  He 
replied : — 

"  If  the  happiness,  fair  maid, 
That  soothes  me  in  the  silent  shade 
Should  in  your  eye  appear  too  great, 
Come  take  it  all,  and  share  my  fate." 

To  this  sally,  so  plainly  in  the  spirit  of  fun,  Miss 
Graeme  answered: — 

"  While  youthful  joys  around  you  shine, 
Haste  not  to  bend  to  Hymen's  shrine; 
Let  friendship,  gen'rous  friendship,  be 
The  bond  to  fetter  you  and  me, 
Vestal,  platonic  —  what  you  will, 
So  virtue  reigns  with  freedom  still." 

Evans,  with  a  philosophy  that  scarcely  indicates  the 
disappointed  swain,  wrote : — 

"  None,  I  trust,  shall  e'er  discover 
In  me  aught  like  the  whimp'ring  lover; 


78  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

The  falt'ring  voice,  the  sigh  of  care, 
The  languid  look,  the  dying  air. 
When  abject  thus  behaves  the  muse, 
May  I  kind  Laura's  friendship  lose." 

Elizabeth  Graeme  at  thirty-three  yielded  to  the  en 
treaties  of  a  young  Scottish  adventurer  ten  years  her 
junior,  Hugh  Henry  Ferguson.  It  is  said  that  they 
were  married  secretly.  At  any  rate  the  husband  was 
unworthy  and  remained  with  her  no  long  time.  He 
joined  the  British  forces  in  the  Revolution,  and,  making 
his  way  at  last  to  Flanders,  where  he  fought  in  the  wars, 
rendered  to  her  no  future  account  of  his  movements. 
Unheard  like  many  another  humane,  poetic,  cultivated, 
reasoning  mind,  she  was  condemned  as  a  Tory  by  the 
radicals  of  Pennsylvania  because  of  the  course  her  hus 
band  had  taken  and  the  ill  fortune  she  had  to  be  an  in 
termediary  on  two  unhappy  occasions:  once  in  bearing 
the  Rev.  Jacob  Duche's  letter  to  Washington,  urging  the 
commander-in-chief  to  use  his  influence  in  favor  of  peace 
and  save  himself,  probably,  from  the  hanging  reserved 
for  traitors  to  the  crown;  again  in  delivering  to  Gov 
ernor  Joseph  Reed  of  Pennsylvania  an  offer  from  the 
British  peace  commissioners,  which  afforded  him  the 
opportunity  to  utter  his  famous  boast  that  the  King  of 
England  was  not  rich  enough  to  buy  him  and  shake 
his  fealty  to  his  country. 

Mrs.  Ferguson,  often  called  Lady  Ferguson,  because 
of  the  favor  accorded  her  by  the  King  while  in  London, 
had  a  kind  of  salon  at  her  winter  home  in  Philadelphia. 
On  Saturday  evenings  men  and  women  of  an  exclusive 
literary  refinement  gathered  about  her,  when  "  her  body 
seemed  to  evanish  and  she  appeared  to  be  all  mind." 
While  at  Graeme  Park  she  lived  closely  with  nature 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN 


79 


and  was  an  indefatigable  pedestrian,  frequently  walk 
ing  the  eighteen  miles  which  separated  that  handsome 
estate  from  the  city.  She  died  at  the  age  of  sixty  in  a 
farm-house  near  her  beloved  Graeme  Park,  and  was 
buried  in  Christ  Church-yard  in  Philadelphia.  This 
extraordinary  woman,  it  is  said,  transcribed  the  Bible 
from  end  to  end  to  impress  it  upon  her  memory. 

One  of  her  most  interesting  works  is  a  poetical  version 
of  the  Psalms.  This 
was  a  labor  of  conso 
lation  and  love  which 
was  begun  in  1766. 
Almost  overwhelmed 
with  grief  by  the  death 
of  her  mother  and 
sister,  she  retired  to 
Graeme  Park,  believ 
ing  that  the  writing 
11  might  prove  both  a 
rational  and  pious 
service  to  a  pensive 
mind;  for  I  had  long 
known,"  she  observes, 


ELIZABETH   GRAEME'S   BOOK-PLATE 


that,  "  the  mind  was  never  so  wretched  as  without  a 
pursuit  and  a  prey  to  unavailing  sorrow."  By  way  of 
explanation  of  her  interest  in  the  work  she  says: — 

'  The  Psalms  of  David  have  ever  been  a  very  fa 
vorite  subject  of  my  meditations.  When  I  was  very 
young  my  worthy  mother  frequently  made  me  read  the 
Psalms  to  her,  and  I  so  early  imbibed  a  fondness  for 
them  that  like  all  other  first  impressions  they  are  like  to 
be  lasting,  for  there  appears  to  me  as  great  a  difference 
between  scenes  laid  in  youth  and  maturity  as  between 


80  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

painting  in  crayons  and  carving  in  sculpture.  The 
statuary's  stroke  of  chisel  no  length  of  time  can  efface, 
while  the  chalky  pencil  flies  off  at  every  brush  and 
touch." 

The  volume  containing  the  Psalms,  which  is  in  man 
uscript  in  the  Library  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Penn 
sylvania,  is  dedicated  to  Dr.  Richard  Peters,  with  many 
warm  expressions  of  friendship  and  gratitude  for  his 
favors  and  kindnesses,  among  them  being  his  conduct 
ing  her  to  England.  "  Did  you  not  by  a  thousand  kind 
and  attentive  acts/'  she  asks,  "  make  me  think  light  of 
those  inconveniences  which  must  have  been  the  result 
of  a  young  woman  leaving  her  native  country  and 
friends  had  she  gone  unaccompanied,  by  such  a  guide 
as  you  were  to  me?  " 

The  ninth  verse  of  the  Fifth  Psalm,  "  For  there  is 
no  faithfulness  in  their  mouth,  their  inward  part  is  very 
wickedness;  their  throat  is  an  open  sepulchre,  they  flat 
ter  with  their  tongue,"  Mrs.  Ferguson  rendered  as  fol 
lows  : — 

"  Far,  far  from  truth  my  foes  are  fled, 
To  every  sweet  instruction  dead ; 
For  sin  makes  its  supream  abode 
Where  man's  a  stranger  to  his  God. 

"  As  yawning  graves  vile  dust  contain 
Tho'  o'er  them  polished  stone  remain, 
So  they  false  character  convey; 
They  smile,  deceive,  and  last  they  slay." 

She  also  translated  Fenelon's  "  Telemaque "  into 
pleasing  English  verse,  the  manuscript  of  which,  in  two 
thick  volumes  bound  in  red  leather,  is  preserved  in  the 


A  \  1^. 

ttttix'Ar*  fayfjk*  *utfr 


9l  c\y  y 
ff 


f^. 

*n\/  Ott 

/M  /not 


"  ff 


,    M, 


A  PAGE  FROM  MRS.  FERGUSON'S  METRICAL  VERSION  OF  THE  PSALMS, 
IN  THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


82  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Philadelphia  Library.  In  her  preface  to  this  work  she 
explains  that  "  Telemachus  "  was  a  favorite  book  with 
her  from  childhood,  and  she  "  having  a  little  turn 
to  rhyme  entertained  herself  with  endeavoring  at  a 
translation  of  it  from  the  French  into  English  heroic 
verse."  This  was  a  monumental  work.  It  was  begun 
in  1769  and  the  metrical  narrative  opens  as  follows: — 

"  No  dawn  of  comfort  could  Calypso  find, 
No  balm  to  soften  her  distracted  mind; 
Eternal  life  her  tortur'd  bosom  pain'd 
And  immortality  her  anguish  chain'd. 
A  length  of  years  appeared  a  train  of  woe, 
A  dreadful  channel  for  her  griefs  to  flow. 
Ulysses  gone,  no  place  affords  delight, 
The  absent  hero  haunts  her  anxious  sight. 
Her  voice  mellifluous  echo'd  not  around, 
No  floating  air  return'd  the  silver  sound. 
In  solemn  silence  her  fair  band  attend, 
And  slowly  at  an  awful  distance  bend. 
Alone  and  pensive  she  oft  trod  the  ground 
Where  the  green  turf  her  sea-girt  island  bound." 

Mrs.  Ferguson  wrote  in  1787  upon  hearing  of  a  new 
stellar  discovery  by  Sir  William  Herschel: — 

"  Whether  the  optic's  piercing  eye 

Has  introduced  to  view 
A  distant  planet  in  the  sky, 
Bright,  wonderful  and  new? 

"Or  whether  we  are  nearer  thrown 

To  the  great  fount  of  light, 
And  from  that  source  each  mist  be  flown 
That  wrapt  that  star  in  night?  " 


THE  AGE  OF  FRANKLIN  83 

The  poetess  was  also  an  adept  in  satire  when  her 
aristocratic  sentiments  were  outraged  by  the  revolution 
ary  expressions  of  Thomas  Paine,  for  instance,  and 
other  violent  men  of  her  own  country  and  of  France. 
She  wrote  verses  on  the  massacre  of  priests  in  the  Abbe 
at  Paris  in  September,  1792,  which  began: 

"  Down  with  the  Bastile !   'Tis  too  small  a  place, 
For  we'll  imprison  half  the  Gallic  race. 
Since  the  sovereign  people  rule  the  land 
And  deal  forth  justice  with  unerring  hand, 
Be  those  first  slaughtered  who're  most  fit  to  die." 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   WRITERS   OF  THE   REVOLUTION 

The  literary  development  of  the  country,  as  a  matter 
if  course,  was  rudely  interrupted  and  very  disastrously 
.ffected  by  the  dispute  between  the  mother  country  and 
icr  colonies  which  soon  reached  the  stage  of  war. 
That  the  taste  for  good  reading  and  the  appreciation 
of  literature  of  greater  value  than  that  which  reached 
the  people  through  the  newspaper  and  the  almanac 
were  growing  is  clearly  indicated  by  the  changes  ef 
fected  in  the  character  of  the  publishing  trade  in  Phil 
adelphia.  Franklin,  Bradford  and  the  other  printers 
of  newspapers,  pamphlets  and  almanacs,  rarely  issued 
a  work  that  might  be  held  to  possess  true  literary  merit. 
With  the  addition  of  Robert  Bell,  James  Humphreys, 
Andrew  Steuart  and  Robert  Aitken  to  Philadelphia's 
group  of  publishers,  the  situation  in  a  literary  way 
underwent  a  marked  improvement. 

Bell,  who  was  a  Scotchman,  was  a  particularly  valu 
able  acquisition  to  the  list,  being  incessant  in  his  activity 
in  reprinting  for  distribution  in  the  colonies  works  of 
proven  success  in  England.  In  1768  he  brought  out 
Johnson's  "  Rasselas,"  which  was  followed  by  Robert 
son's  "History  of  Charles  V'  in  three  volumes; 
Blackstone's  "  Commentaries  "  in  four  volumes;  Sterne's 
"  Sentimental  Journey,"  "  Paradise  Lost,"  Lady  Mon 
tagu's  "  Letters  and  Poems,"  "  Robinson  Crusoe," 
Adam  Ferguson's  "  Essay  on  the  History  of  Civil  So- 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       85 

ciety,"  and  many  popular  English  novels.  Even  while 
the  war  was  in  progress  he  was  enabled  to  reprint  Vol 
taire,  De  Rochefoucauld's  "  Maxims,"  Young's  "  Night 
Thoughts,"  and  other  standard  works.  He  was  "  al 
ways  attentive  to  the  desire  of  the  public  and  ever 
willing  to  gratify  the  growing  taste  for  the  advance 
ment  of  literature  in  America,"  said  Bell.  His  doc 
trine  was  that  "  the  more  books  are  sold  the  more  will 
be  sold,"  and  this  he  declared  was  "  an  established 
truth  well  known  to  every  liberal  reader  and  to  every 
bookseller  of  experience."  With  this  object  in  view, 
he  conducted  book  auctions  in  Philadelphia.  "  After 
waiting  two  or  three  years  for  the  expected  purchas 
ers,"  he  said,  in  justifying  himself  as  an  auctioneer, 
"  the  bookseller  is  convinced  he  was  mistaken  in  the 
calculation  of  his  customers,  and  then  he  determineth, 
according  to  the  mode  practised  in  all  other  countries 
when  an  edition  hath  been  overprinted,  to  sell  them  by 
auction  to  those  inhabitants  who  choose  to  purchase  in 
that  way.  These  sales  by  auction,  although  at  an  un 
der  price,  realizeth  dead  stock  into  live  cash  and  will 
sooner  enable  him  to  repair  with  ready  money  to  the 
paper  manufacturer  in  order  to  make  another  attempt 
upon  some  celebrated  author,  whose  sublime  works 
might  diffuse  universal  knowledge  to  every  corner  of 
the  American  continent." 

Later,  during  the  war,  Bell  travelled  from  Charles 
ton  to  Boston,  holding  his  auctions  in  many  cities.  He 
became  quite  celebrated  as  a  bookseller  and  died  in 
Richmond  in  1784  while  on  a  business  trip  to  South 
Carolina. 

It  was  said  at  the  time  that  nearly  as  many  copies  of 
Blackstone  were  sold  in  America  as  in  England,  and 


86  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

English  authors  witnessed  with  dismay  the  popularity 
their  pirated  works  enjoyed  in  the  colonies. 

At  least  two  more  experiments  in  magazine  editing 
were  made  in  Philadelphia  before  the  Revolution. 
John  Webbe's  (Bradford's),  Franklin's,  and  Dr.  Wil 
liam  Smith's  failing,  Lewis  Nicola,  in  1769,  issued  his 
"  American  Magazine,"  the  third  to  bear  that  name  in 
Pennsylvania.  Nicola  was  born  in  France  and  edu 
cated  in  Ireland.  He  contributed  to  the  proceedings 
of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  wrote  military 
treatises,  and  later  attained  some  eminence  in  the  Con 
tinental  Army.  In  his  salutatory  to  the  public  he  dis 
cussed  the  relative  merits  of  newspapers  and  magazines. 
"  Magazines,"  said  he,  u  as  their  names  import,  may 
justly  be  considered  as  store-houses  wherein  are  depos 
ited  such  pieces  of  humor,  short  tracts  on  various  sub 
jects,  etc.,  as  from  their  size  could  not  be  easily  con 
veyed  to  the  public,  nor  expect  a  long  existence  in  flying 
sheets;  but  here,  like  the  bundle  of  twigs,  they  acquire 
strength  by  their  union  and  mutually  support  each 
other." 

Nicola  seems  very  well  to  have  lived  up  to  the  stand 
ards  which  he  set  for  magazine  editors.  The  choice 
of  his  articles  displays  a  tenderness  of  feeling  toward 
science,  but  some  poetry  taken  from  the  British  reviews 
was  inserted,  and  he  gave  each  month  a  summary  of 
"  Foreign  Intelligence,"  strongly  suggestive  of  the 
same  department  in  the  weekly  newspapers.  Nicola's 
monthly  ceased  to  appear  after  an  existence  of  about  a 
year  and  Philadelphia  was  again  without  a  magazine 
until  Robert  Aitken,  the  publisher  and  bookseller,  be 
gan  his  u  Pennsylvania  Magazine  and  American 
Monthly  Museum,"  usually  called  the  "  Museum."  It 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION      87 

had  a  number  of  excellent  writers  among  its  contrib 
utors,  and  no  periodical  of  the  kind  previously  pub 
lished  in  the  colony  was  so  deserving  of  success.     Not 
seldom  the  pages  were  illustrated  in  a  creditable  way. 
Appearing  first  with  the  year  1775,  its  fortunes  were 
ill  starred.     "  Those  whose  leisure  and  abilities  might 
lead  them  to  a  successful  application  to  the  muses," 
said  Mr.  Aitken,  "  now  turn  their  attention  to  the  rude; 
preparations  for  war.     Every  heart  and  hand  seems  toj 
be  engaged  in  the  interesting  struggle   for  American! 
liberty.     Till  this  important  point  is  settled  the  pen  of  j 
the  poet  and  the  books  of  the  learned  must  be  in  a  great) 
measure  neglected.     The  arts  and  sciences  are  not  cul-j 
tivated  to  advantage  but  in  the  fruitful  soil  of  peace.1) 
For  this  reason  the  publisher  was  compelled  to  discon 
tinue  his  magazine  in  1776  and  in  its  fate  we  have  the 
index  of  the  course  of  literature  during  the  period  now 
under  review. 

To  the  list  of  newspapers  published  in  Philadelphia 
three  rather  notable  additions  were  made  by  the  estab 
lishment  of  the  "  Pennsylvania  Chronicle,11  the  "  Penn 
sylvania  Packet  or  the  General  Advertiser,"  and  the 
"  Pennsylvania  Evening  Post.11 

The  "  Post "  was  published  three  times  in  the  week, 
on  Tuesday,  Thursday  and  Saturday,  by  Benjamin 
Towne,  beginning  in  1775.  It  was  the  first  evening 
paper  to  be  issued  in  Pennsylvania.  The  editor  led  an 
unusually  varied  life  in  that  he  was  Whiggish  before 
the  war,  a  Tory  while  the  British  occupied  the  city,  and 
again  a  Whig  afterward.  By  his  political  tergiversa 
tions  he  was  enabled  to  continue  the  publication  of  his 
paper  until  1782. 

The  "  Packet"  was  founded  in  1771  by  John  Dun- 


88  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

lap,  an  Irishman,  a  nephew  of  William  Dunlap,  a  Phil 
adelphia  bookseller,  to  whose  business  he  succeeded 
when  his  uncle  took  holy  orders  and  settled  as  the 
rector  of  a  parish  in  Virginia.  He  had  a  most  exem 
plary  reputation  as  a  journalist.  After  the  war  he  es 
tablished  a  partnership  with  David  C.  Claypoole,  who 
looked  like  and  was  said  to  be  descended  from  Oliver 
Cromwell.  The  "  Packet"  appeared  daily  after  1784. 
It  was  the  first  daily  newspaper  in  the  colonies,  acquir 
ing  much  celebrity  in  the  eighteenth  century  as  "  Clay- 
poolers  American  Daily  Advertiser  "  and  subsequently 
for  nearly  forty  years  as  "  Poulson's  Daily  Advertiser  " 
under  Zachariah  Poulson,  the  son  of  a  Dane  who  had 
learned  the  printing  trade  with  Christopher  Sower.  At 
length  it  was  merged  with  the  "  North  American  "  and 
came  into  the  hands  of  Morton  McMichael,  one  of  the 
ablest  and  most  useful  journalists  which  the  city  has 
produced. 

The  publication  of  the  "  Pennsylvania  Chronicle  " 
was  begun  in  1767  by  William  Goddard,  a  New  Eng- 
lander  who  came  to  Philadelphia  in  the  preceding  year. 
It  lived  until  1773  and  was  the  best  newspaper  issued 
in  Pennsylvania  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  War.  It 
performed  a  very  notable  service  in  introducing  to  the 
public  the  first  great  political  writer  of  the  period  of 
literary  rank,  John  Dickinson.  His  "  Farmer  Letters  " 
began  to  appear  on  December  2,  1767,  and  were  pub 
lished  weekly  for  fourteen  weeks. 

Dickinson  came  of  a  Quaker  family  and  was  born 
on  his  father's  plantation  of  Croisia-dore  in  Maryland 
in  1732.  Removing  to  Delaware,  he  was  educated 
under  private  tutors,  later  studying  law  in  Philadelphia 
and  London.  He  settled  in  Philadelphia  in  1757  and 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       89 

soon  became  closely  involved  in  the  politics  of  Penn 
sylvania  and  the  three  lower  counties  of  Delaware,  on 
the  conservative  side.  Like  Dr.  William  Smith,  he  was 
the  opposite  of  Franklin  in  his  political  views,  but  he 
was  aroused  upon  the  great  tax  question,  and  in  the  dis 
cussion  of  the  legal  aspects  of  the  contest  between  Eng 
land  and  her  American  colonies  displayed  the  depth  of 
his  learning  and  his  cogency  in  written  argument.  He 
knew  English  history  and  English  law  and  believed  in 
them,  unlike  the  uneducated  and  visionary  in  political 
philosophy,  who  were  ready  to  sweep  away  all  tradition 
and  precedent.  The  letters,  for  the  soundness  of  their 
learning,  suggest  Burke,  and  they  won  attention  in 
stantly. 

"  I  am  a  farmer  settled  after  a  variety  of  fortunes 
near  the  banks  of  the  river  Delaware  in  the  province 
of  Pennsylvania,"  the  first  letter  began.  "  I  received 
a  liberal  education  and  have  been  engaged  in  the  busy 
scenes  of  life;  but  am  now  convinced  that  a  man  may  be 
as  happy  without  bustle  as  with  it.  My  farm  is  small ; 
my  servants  are  few,  and  good;  I  have  a  little  money 
at  interest;  I  wish  for  no  more;  my  employment  in  my 
own  affairs  is  easy;  and  with  a  contented,  grateful  mind 
(undisturbed  by  worldly  hopes  or  fears  relating  to  my 
self)  I  am  completing  the  number  of  days  allotted  to 
me  by  Divine  Goodness.  Being  generally  master  of 
my  time  I  spend  a  good  deal  of  it  in  my  library,  which 
I  think  the  most  valuable  part  of  my  small  estate;  and 
being  acquainted  with  two  or  three  gentlemen  of  abil 
ities  and  learning  who  honor  me  with  their  friendship, 
I  have  acquired,  I  believe,  a  greater  knowledge  in  his 
tory  and  the  laws  and  constitution  of  my  country  than 
is  generally  attained  by  men  of  my  class." 


90  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

An  example  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  style  when  in  some 
heat,  omitting  the  italics,  capitals  and  double  caps  in 
which  he  so  freely  indulged,  is  found  in  the  concluding 
passages  of  his  seventh  letter:  "These  duties  which 
will  inevitably  be  levied  upon  us  —  which  are  now  levy 
ing  upon  us  —  are  expressly  laid  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  taking  money.  This  is  the  true  definition  of  taxes. 
They  are  therefore  taxes.  This  money  is  to  be  taken 
from  us.  We  are  therefore  taxed.  Those  who  are 
taxed  without  their  own  consent  expressed  by  them 
selves  or  their  representatives  are  slaves.  We  are 
taxed  without  our  own  consent  expressed  by  ourselves  or 
our  representatives.  We  are  therefore  slaves. 

Miserable  vulgus. 
A  miserable  tribe." 

As  soon  as  they  appeared  in  the  "  Chronicle/'  the 
letters  were  reprinted  in  the  other  Philadelphia  news 
papers;  in  fact,  in  all  the  journals  published  in  the  col 
onies  except  four.  They  were  at  once  issued  in  pam 
phlet  form  in  Pennsylvania,  passing  through  a  number 
of  editions.  They  were  thus  printed,  too,  in  New 
York  and  Boston  and  there  was  an  edition  for  France, 
the  translation  being  made  by  Franklin's  friend  Du- 
bourg.  Dickinson's  recognition  was  immediate.  He 
was  thanked  by  a  Boston  town  meeting  and  he  received 
an  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  from  Princeton 
College,  being  called  the  "  Pennsylvania  Farmer "  in 
his  diploma.  He  was  regarded  by  the  liberals  of 
America  and  France  as  one  of  them,  and  great  was  their 
disappointment  when  they  discovered  that  his  motto 
was  "  defence  not  defiance,"  in  relation  to  the  events 
which  followed  each  other  so  rapidly,  leading  up  to  a 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       91 

declaration  of  independence  and  a  war  for  separate 
national  existence.  Dickinson  opposed  the  radicals 
who  took  control  of  the  government  in  Pennsylvania. 
He  refused  to  sign  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
but  followed  the  majority,  if  a  little  tardily  and  re 
luctantly,  in  forwarding  the  war. 

"  Tall  and  spare,  his  hair  white  as  snow,  his  face, 
uniting  with  the  severe  simplicity  of  his  sect,  a  neatness 
and  elegance  peculiarly  in  keeping  with  it;  his  manners 
a  beautiful  emanation  of  the  great  Christian  principle 
of  love,"  as  an  admirer  described  Dickinson,  in  his  last 
years,  he  was  active  in  works  of  philanthropy.  He  was  I 
th£_J.oi]nder  an d-aJarge  benefactor  of  Dickinson  Col-  , 
lege  at  Carlisle,  Pa.r  when  the  College  of  Philadelphia 
was  under  a  cloud  which  it  seemed  might  never  pass. 
He  offered  money  to  the  Society  of  Friends  with  which 
to  establish  the  rather  famous  secondary  school  still  in 
existence  at  Westtown  in  Chester  County,  and  died  at 
Wilmington,  Del.,  in  1808,  to  be  buried  in  the  Friends' 
graveyard  in  that  city. 

No  conservative  influence  could  prevail  to  retard  the 
movement  which  Franklin  had  led  against  intellectual 
absolutism.  From  a  narrow,  uncomfortable  religion, 
a  devotion  to  kingly  and  other  ancient  forms,  the  pen 
dulum  was  swinging  widely  to  the  other  extreme,  and 
nowhere  so  widely  as  in  Pennsylvania  and  France. 
There  was  no  stopping  it.  What  Rousseau  had  begun 
with  his  philosophy,  which  pleaded  for  "  a  return  to 
nature/'  was  bearing  fruit  full  of  vast  meaning  for  the 
world.  In  France  there  was  Voltaire,  the  chief  of  all  the 
liberals  in  literature  in  Europe.  Around  him  revolved 
lesser  men,  steeped  in  the  same  philosophy  of  protest  and 
revolution, —  Condorcet,  Turgot,  Dubourg,  Le  Veil- 


92  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

lard,  Philip  Mazzei,  Abbe  Raynal,  the  Duke  de  La 
Rochefoucauld,  Diderot,  D'Alembert  and  the  Encyclo 
pedists;  Dr.  Quesnay,  the  elder  Mirabeau,  and  the 
members  of  that  curious  sect,  the  Economistes.  What 
Voltaire  was  to  the  movement  in  France,  Franklin  was 
considered  to  be  in  America,  and  his  influence  was  great 
est  in  his  own  city  and  state. 

In  this  country  appeared  a  host  of  men  more  or  less 
possessed  of  the  same  views,  such  as  Thomas  Jefferson, 
Samuel  Adams,  and  in  Pennsylvania  Thomas  Paine, 
David  Rittenhouse,  George  Bryan,  Timothy  Matlack, 
and  many  others  whose  names  are  unrecognizable  at 
this  day.  The  step  is  not  long  from  Rousseau  and 
Voltaire  to  Danton  and  Robespierre;  from  Franklin  to 
liberty-crazed  fellows  who  tarred  and  feathered  Tories 
on  circumstantial  evidence,  engaged  in  the  Fort  Wilson 
riot,  attacked  Robert  Morris  for  selling  merchandise  at 
ruling  market  prices,  and  later  danced  about  liberty 
poles,  wore  the  cockade,  mobbed  the  British  consulate 
in  Philadelphia,  and  aimed  to  involve  the  republic  in 
a  sympathetic  war  with  the  revolutionists  of  France 
'against  England.  It  is  not  far  from  liberty  to  license, 
from  liberalism  to  illiberalism  and  tyranny,  and  in  Phil 
adelphia  events  led  inevitably  from  tolerance  of  view 
to  violence  of  word  and  action. 

The  state  had  its  bitter  factional  disputes,  which 
were  largely  due  to  the  tripartite  character  of  the  pop 
ulation.  The  Quakers  had  settled  in  Philadelphia  and 
the  southeastern  counties;  the  Germans  in  the  north  and 
northwest,  chiefly  in  the  hills,  while  to  the  west  toward 
the  Susquehanna  lay  a  country  more  recently  occupied 
by  a  hot-headed  and  belligerent  body  of  emigrants  from 
the  north  of  Ireland.  Beyond  the  river  were  wild  In- 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       93 

dians,  inflamed  by  the  constant  encroachments  upon 
their  ancient  domain.  At  this  time,  perhaps  not  more 
than  a  fourth  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Pennsylvania 
were  Quakers,  nearly  one-half  Germans,  and  the  other 
fourth  Scotch-Irish. 

The  Quakers  had  a  secure  hold  of  the  government 
through  restrictions  upon  the  suffrage  and  an  apportion 
ment  of  representatives  in  the  legislature  which  was 
made  before  the  Germans  and  Irish  had  come  to  the 
state.  The  Germans  for  the  most  part  were  peace- 
loving,  and  their  favor  was  eagerly  sought  in  the  polit 
ical  contest  which  soon  ensued  between  the  Scotch-Irish 
in  the  west,  who  by  reason  of  their  geographical  situa 
tion  and  their  racial  temperament,  sought  military  pro 
tection,  and  the  Quakers  who  wished  to  live  at  peace 
with  the  Indians. 

Once  in  1763  the  feeling  rose  to  such  a  height  that  a 
mob  of  westerners  led  by  the  "  Paxton  Boys,"  who  had 
killed  in  cold  blood,  in  Lancaster,  several  Indians  under 
the  care  of  the  Moravian  missionaries,  marched  upon 
Philadelphia  to  attack  other  members  of  the  tribe,  re 
moved  for  safety  to  the  city,  and  seize  the  symbols  of 
the  government.  The  Quakers  for  once  buckled  on 
their  swords  and  the  dispute  threatened  to  assume  grave 
dimensions  before  it  was  composed. 

In  this  situation  it  was  easy  for  a  few  eager  spirits 
to  overset  the  aristocratic  proprietary  Quaker  govern 
ment,  as  soon  as  the  difficulty  with  Great  Britain  reached 
the  stage  of  war.  Associators,  minute  men  and  mem 
bers  of  self-constituted  committees  called  a  convention 
in  1776,  extending  the  franchise  without  legal  author 
ity.  The  war  fervor  and  the  popular  sentiment  in  fa 
vor  of  liberty  were  depended  on  to  justify  all  things. 


94  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

The  convention  chose  Franklin  as  its  president  and 
adopted  a  constitution.  This  instrument  of  govern 
ment,  fantastic  and  weird  to  the  last  degree,  had  the 
doubtful  advantage  of  originality.  Its  authors,  said  to 
have  been  Thomas  Paine,  George  Bryan  and  James 
Cannon,  who  were  not  members  of  the  convention,  and 
Franklin,  to  whom  the  credit  for  the  work  was  univer 
sally  given  without  his  denial  of  the  impeachment,  were 
restrained  by  no  precedents.  They  would  have  a  pres 
ident  and  no  governor,  since  that  name  smacked  of 
monarchy.  They  would  have  but  one  house  of  legisla 
ture,  which  should  appoint  the  judges  of  the  courts  and 
exercise  other  dangerous  powers  without  hindrance, 
other  than  that  which  might  come  from  the  unrestricted 
suffrage  of  members  of  the  war  party  and  the  action  of 
the  Council  of  Censors  to  meet  every  seven  years  to 
consider  the  acts  of  the  legislature  and  reprimand  it  in 
gentleness  for  any  violation  of  the  charter  of  its  author 
ity. 

The  government  was  with  difficulty  organized  under 

uch  a  constitution.     Against  it  were  arrayed  all  the 
men  of  substance  and  of  conservative  learning  in  the 

'olony,  such  as  James  Wilson,  Robert  Morris,  Thomas 
Willing,  Thomas  McKean,  F.  A.  Muhlenberg,  George 

Ilymer  and  John  Dickinson;  and  many  times  in  the 

hirteen  years  during  which  it  was  in  force,  bloodshed 
was  narrowly  averted. 

This  constitution  is  worthy  of  attention  because  it 
was  at  once  heralded  in  Europe  as  Franklin's,  and  as 
the  new  world's  practical  experiment  with  Jean  Jacques's 
philosophy.  To  Voltaire  Pennsylvania  was  the  hope 
of  the  human  race,  and  in  the  intellectual  orgies  of  the 
time,  when  men  wished  to  abolish  their  ancestry  and 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION      95 

live  according  to  new  rules  of  their  own  making,  Frank 
lin  and  his  constitution  were  the  centre  of  interest  and 
discussion. 

At  home,  where  our  investigation  now  confines  us, 
the  most  violent  of  the  literary  representatives  of  the 
new  philosophy  was  Thomas  Paine.  He  had  come  to 
America  from  England  through  Franklin's  instrumen 
tality,  just  as  that  man  had  taken  James  Ralph  to  Eng 
land  fifty  years  before  to  lead  more  or  less  the  same 
kind  of  a  life  in  London  that  Paine  was  destined  to  live 
in  Philadelphia, —  as  a  pamphleteer  for  statesmen  and 
ministries  and  a  general  literary  starveling  and  handy 
man.  The  advantage  on  balance  is  not  great  on  either 
side.  By  admirers  Paine  has  been  called  the  "  Great 
Commoner."  He  arrived  in  Philadelphia  in  1774  in 
the  nick  of  time  and  almost  immediately  found  employ 
ment  on  the  "  Pennsylvania  Magazine,"  for  which  Ait- 
ken,  its  publisher,  was  to  have  much  difficulty  in  secur 
ing  the  material  that  he  had  engaged  the  Englishman 
to  furnish  him.  He  used  to  relate  that  Paine  could 
never  write  except  with  a  decanter  of  brandy  beside 
him.  The  first  glass  warmed  him,  the  second  illumi 
nated  his  intellectual  system,  and  when  he  had  taken 
the  third  glass  it  is  said  that  he  wrote  "  with  great 
rapidity,  intelligence  and  precision,  his  ideas  appearing 
to  flow  faster  than  he  could  commit  them  to  paper." 
The  time  was  ripe  for  one  of  his  radical  views,  and  his 
cleverness  in  composition  was  evidenced  early  in  1776 
by  the  astonishing  success  gained  by  his  pamphlet, 
"  Common  Sense,"  which  was  published  by  Robert 
Bell,  who  could  not  secure  paper  to  print  it  fast  enough 
to  supply  the  demand.  It  was  a  vehement  plea  for  in 
dependence,  even  at  the  price  of  war,  and  was  reprinted 


96  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

and  discussed  in  all  parts  of  America  and  Europe,  bring 
ing  its  author  votes  of  thanks  and  compliments  of  many 
kinds,  suggestive  of  the  public  uprising  which  ensued 
upon  the  issue  of  the  "  Farmer  Letters  "  eight  years 
before.  There  was  thi§  difference:  one  was  an  histor 
ical  and  legal  argument,  the  other  empty  rhetoric;  one 
was  addressed  to  men's  reason,  the  other  to  their  pas 
sions;  one  was  the  work  of  a  substantial  citizen  of  Penn 
sylvania  of  deep  and  sound  learning,  with  a  sense  of 
responsibility  for  his  utterances,  the  other  of  an  intel 
lectual  adventurer. 

Paine  stated  in  his  pamphlet  that  before  the  battle 
of  Lexington  he  had  warmly  wished  for  a  reconcilia 
tion.  Afterward,  said  he,  "  I  rejected  the  hardened, 
sullen-tempered  Pharaoh  of  England  forever;  and  dis 
dain  the  wretch  that  with  the  pretended  title  of  Father 
of  his  people  can  unfeelingly  hear  of  their  slaughter 
and  composedly  sleep  with  their  blood  upon  his  soul." 
He  concluded  with  this  appeal :  "  O  ye  that  love  man 
kind  !  Ye  that  dare  oppose  not  only  the  tyranny  but 
the  tyrant,  stand  forth!  Every  sport  of  the  old  world 
is  overrun  with  oppression.  Freedom  hath  been 
hunted  around  the  globe.  Asia  and  Africa  have  long 
expelled  her.  Europe  regards  her  like  a  stranger  and 
England  hath  given  her  warning  to  depart.  O !  receive 
the  fugitive  and  prepare  in  time  an  asylum  for  man 
kind." 

Throughout  the  war  Paine  issued  "  The  Crisis,"  a 
pamphlet  published  from  time  to  time  to  invigorate  the 
people  and  forward  the  contest.  He  was  frequently  a 
supplicant  for  office  and  often  smote  the  hand  which 
gave  him  bread,  including  General  Washington  and 
Robert  Morris.  After  the  war  he  found  his  way  to 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION       97 

Europe.  In  England  he  published  his  "  Rights  of 
Man,"  a  revolutionary  writing  in  which  he  attacked 
Burke  and  for  which  he  was  outlawed  and  pursued  by 
the  British  government.  In  France  he  was  almost  can 
onized  by  the  revolutionists,  but,  falling  athwart  the 
way  of  Robespierre,  he  languished  for  nearly  a  year  in 
the  Luxembourg  prison,  awaiting  his  summons  to  the 
guillotine.  There  he  employed  his  time  writing  his 
atheistical  work,  "  The  Age  of  Reason,"  and  coming 
back  to  America,  died  in  New  York  in  1809,  aged 
seventy-two  years.  He  was  buried  upon  his  farm  at 
New  Rochelle,  West  Chester  County,  N.  Y.,  and  on 
his  grave  rests  a  stone  bearing  the  words :  u  Thomas 
Paine,  Author  of  *  Common  Sense.'  '  A  consistent 
radical,  his  doctrines  and  deeds  will  never  be  admired 
by  those  who  have  a  different  philosophy.  As  a  writer, 
however,  he  was  unquestionably  facile  and  the  master 
of  a  pure  and  forceful  style. 

In  Paine's  group  of  philosophers  who  looked  to 
Franklin  as  their  patron  even  while  he  was  afar  off, 
appear  the  names  of  few  writers.  Numerous  as  they 
were,  none  had  literary  gifts,  or  the  leisure  in  time  of 
action  to  put  their  theories  into  writing,  although  many 
advocates  came  forward  at  a  later  day. 

Timothy  Matlack,  a  Free  or  Fighting  Quaker  who 
wore  his  sword  in  the  streets,  as  he  explained,  to  defend 
his  liberties,  which  otherwise  he  surmised  would  not  be 
secure,  wrote  for  the  newspapers  articles  of  a  violently 
democratic  tendency.  Born  at  Haddonfield,  N.  J.,  in 
1730,  this  old  Spartan  lived  nearly  one  hundred  years. 
His  death  did  not  occur  until  1829,  near  Holmesburg, 
Pa. 

George  Bryan  was  an  Irishman,  to  which  fact  some 


98  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

of  his  antipathy  to  the  English  form  of  government 
with  its  three  separately  constituted  departments,  exec 
utive,  legislative  and  judicial,  and  its  two  houses  of 
parliament,  has  been  attributed.  He  came  to  Phila 
delphia  as  a  lad,  followed  mercantile  life  and  failed  in 
business,  afterward  feeling  himself  antagonistic  to  the 
existing  social  system.  He  was  active  in  endeavoring 
to  administer  the  odd  government  of  Pennsylvania 
which  he  had  helped  to  establish,  occupying  a  number 
of  offices  under  it.  Consistent  to  the  end,  he  opposed 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
of  1787,  seeing  in  it  many  imaginary  restrictions  and 
tyrannies.  He  was  a  man  of  much  reading  and  his 
temperament  made  him  one  of  the  most  determined  of 
the  very  democratic  spirits  in  the  Pennsylvania  groujx- 

James  Cannon,  a  pamphleteer,  a  teacher  in  the  Col 
lege  of  Philadelphia,  and  one  of  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution  of  Pennsylvania,  was  a  typical  represent 
ative  of  the  new  philosophy.  In  addressing  a  public 
meeting,  it  is  reported  that  he  denounced  "  all  learning 
as  an  artificial  constraint  on  the  human  understanding: 
—  he  had  done  with  it,  and  advised  our  sovereign  lords, 
the  people,  to  choose  no  lawyers  or  other  professional 
characters  called  educated  or  learned,  but  to  select  men 
uneducated,  with  unsophisticated  understandings.  He 
should  be  glad  to  forget  the  trumpery  which  had  occu 
pied  so  much  of  his  life." 

Arrayed  against  this  Gallo-American  philosophy, 
born  of  Rousseau  and  first  realized  in  Pennsylvania, 
accounts  of  the  remarkable  success  of  the  experiment 
being  carried  back  to  France,  where  what  they  were 
pleased  to  regard  as  God's  government  in  the  new 
world  was  apotheosized  and  made  the  model  for  the 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION      99 

revolutionists,  were  some  of  the  most  substantial  char 
acters  which  our  American  political  civilization  has  ever 
developed,  the  chief  among  them  for  our  purposes  be 
ing  John  Dickinson,  Robert  Morris  and  James  Wilson. 

John  Dickinson  began  the  contest  by  proposing,  in 
the  first  legislature  elected  under  the  Constitution,  of 
which  he  was  a  member,  that  they  call  another  conven 
tion  to  prepare  a  frame  of  government  in  harmony  with 
the  traditions  and  precedents  of  the  English  people. 
Failing  in  this,  he  and  his  friends  withdrew  from  the 
body.  Some  officers  were  finally  installed  and  a  par 
tial  organization  was  effected,  which  was  interrupted 
by  the  British  army  coming  to  occupy  the  city,  leaving 
it  in  the  hands  of  the  lords  of  misrule,  when  the  at 
tempt  to  adopt  a  suitable  constitution  was  resumed. 

Mobs  of  men,  calling  themselves  Constitutionalists, 
or  partisans  of  the  old  constitution  of  1776,  swarmed 
the  streets.  The  houses  of  Tories,  or  those  suspected 
of  Toryism,  who  sufficed  quite  as  well  to  satisfy  the 
savage  thirst  for  remedy  and  vengeance,  were  attacked ; 
men  were  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  legally  appointed 
officers  and  hanged  on  the  commons;  outlaws  infested 
the  country  roads  and  property  owners  and  patriots 
of  established  character  were  warned  to  flee  the  city  if 
they  valued  their  lives.  In  connection  with  their  other 
vagaries,  the  radicals  were  firm  advocates  of  unlimited 
issues  of  paper  money.  Its  value  fell  constantly  and 
the  prices  of  all  commodities  rose  proportionately.  The 
misery  of  the  people  was  real;  their  wrath  not  unnat 
ural.  Price  conventions  were  held;  mobs  presumed  to 
fix  the  prices  at  which  merchandise  should  be  sold, 
prescribing  penalties  for  those  who  exacted  higher 
rates;  and  the  loudest  threats  were  uttered  against  mer- 


ioo  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

chants  who  it  was  supposed  were  forestalling  or  monop 
olizing  the  supplies  of  goods,  later  to  take  advantage  of 
the  people's  necessities. 

As  one  of  the  largest  merchants  in  the  city,  the  pop 
ular  madness  found  vent  against  Robert  Morris.  Com 
ing  to  Philadelphia  from  England  as  a  lad,  Morris 
was  a  self-made  man  in  the  best  sense.  He  early  en 
tered  the  old  mercantile  house  of  Willing  and  with 
his  partner,  Thomas  Willing,  had  for  years  imported 
and  exported  more  largely  perhaps  than  any  one  in  the 
city,  if  not  in  the  colonies.  Though  a  conservative 
from  disposition  and  interest,  he  early  embraced  the 
American  cause  and  performed  indispensable  service  in 
1776  and  1777  before  the  British  had  yet  occupied  the 
city.  The  victories  at  Trenton  Washington  freely  as 
cribed  to  Morris's  timely  aid  in  supplying  him  with  a 
large  sum  of  hard  money.  This  and  other  patriotic  acts 
were  now  forgotten,  and  a  group  of  men,  with  Paine 
at  their  head,  denounced  Morris  in  a  town  meeting 
wrhich  was  attended  by  an  excited  crowd.  General 
John  Cadwalader,  who  attempted  to  speak  in  Morris's 
behalf,  was  attacked  by  a  hundred  men  with  clubs,  and 
a  committee  was  sent  to  wait  upon  the  great  merchant 
and  ask  him  why  he  did  not  sell  a  cargo  of  flour  which 
he  had  just  received  at  a  price  arbitrarily  fixed  by  them. 
The  tyrannies  and  proscriptions  made  life  and  property 
in  the  city  highly  insecure  for  the  Anti-constitutional 
ists,  or  Republicans,  as  they  were  called,  to  distinguish 
them  from  the  direct  government  democrats. 

Against  James  Wilson  the  mob's  rage  also  found  ex 
pression.  His  patriotism  was  no  whit  more  open  to 
question  than  Robert  Morris's.  He  was  born  in  Scot 
land,  where  he  was  educated  at  the  universities.  He 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION      101 

reached  Philadelphia  in  1766.  At  first  a  tutor  in  Latin 
in  the  College,  he  later  studied  law  with  John  Dickin 
son  and  began  his  practise  in  Reading,  Pa.  His  re 
moval  to  Carlisle,  Pa.,  soon  followed.  He  signed  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  rendered  important 
services  in  Congress,  returning  to  Philadelphia  to  make 
it  his  permanent  abode  after  the  British  evacuated  the 
city.  An  abler  jurist  the  times  did  not  supply,  and 
because  of  his  respect  for  the  regular  course  of  legal 
procedure  in  the  trial  of  men  accused  of  Toryism,  he 
became  the  object  of  the  most  bitter  hatreds.  He  re 
sided  in  a  brick  house  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Third 
and  Walnut  Streets  when,  on  the  4th  of  October,  1779, 
with  a  number  of  his  friends,  including  Robert  Morris, 
George  Clymer,  Sharp  Delaney  and  General  Mifflin, 
he  sought  refuge  from  a  mob  of  Constitutionalists. 
The  rioters  numbered  perhaps  200  men  and  had  two 
pieces  of  cannon,  which  they  set  up  to  bear  upon  the 
house,  ever  afterward  known  as  "  Fort  Wilson."  The 
garrison  barricaded  the  doors,  returning  the  fire  from 
the  windows  and  other  vantage  points.  The  mob 
forced  the  door  with  sledges  and  bars  and  there  was  a 
struggle  on  the  stairs.  Two  were  killed  in  the  street 
crowd  and  one  in  the  house,  while  a  number  were 
wounded,  especially  after  the  arrival  of  the  City  Troop, 
whose  members  drew  their  swords  as  they  rode  through 
the  mob.  There  was  a  real  reign  of  terror  for  several 
days  and  Wilson  absented  himself  from  the  city  until 
order  wras  in  some  degree  restored  and  the  wild  spirit 
of  the  people  was  mollified. 

Both  Morris  and  Wilson  were  by  good  fortune  re 
served  for  greater  services  than  any  it  had  yet  fallen  in 
their  way  to  perform.  Morris,  in  1781,  when  the 


102  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

country's  money  affairs  were  at  the  lowest  point,  be 
came  Superintendent  of  the  United  States  finances,  and 
for  four  years  with  the  greatest  skill  performed  the  al 
most  impossible  task  of  raising  the  funds  necessary  to 
keep  Washington's  army  in  the  field  and  successfully 
terminate  the  war.  Later  in  1787,  he  served  in  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  and  for  six  years  was  the 
strong  pillar  of  President  Washington's  administration 
as  a  senator  from  Pennsylvania,  succumbing  in  the  end, 
after  playing  the  role  for  a  long  time  of  the  rich  man 
of  America,  in  gigantic  private  speculations  in  virgin 
lands,  being  permitted  to  remain  for  three  years,  six 
months  and  ten  days  in  the  debtors'  apartments  in  the 
old  Prune  Street  Prison  at  Sixth  and  Locust  Streets. 
He  died  broken  in  spirit  as  in  fortune  in  1806  in  this 
city,  being  buried  in  Christ  Church-yard  in  the  family 
tomb. 

Morris's  writings  were  probably  more  voluminous 
than  those  of  any  other  public  man  of  his  day  and  they 
are  as  trenchant  and  incisive  in  manner  and  as  sound 
in  substance  as  the  famous  papers  of  Hamilton,  Mad 
ison  and  Jay  in  the  "  Federalist."  It  was  Morris  who 
framed  these  maxims  for  later  generations  of  Amer 
icans: 

"  Men  are  less  ashamed  to  do  wrong  than  vexed  to 
be  told  of  it." 

"  I  hope  the  people  will  at  length  distinguish  between 
those  who  admonish  them  to  their  good,  and  those  who 
flatter  them  to  their  destruction." 

"  Difficulties  are  always  to  be  distinguished  from  pos 
sibilities.  After  endeavoring  by  your  utmost  exertions 
to  surmount  them,  you  will  be  able  to  determine  which 
of  them  are  insurmountable." 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION     103 

"  Men  are  more  apt  to  trust  one  whom  they  can  call 
to  account  than  three  who  may  not  hold  themselves  ac 
countable,  or  three  and  thirty  who  may  appoint  those 
three." 

Wilson's  most  important  service  was  performed  in 
the  Convention  of  1787,  and  he  is  regarded  by  students 
of  the  Constitution  as  perhaps  the  most  important  man 
in  that  body.  An  inflexible  Federalist,  learned  in  the 
practical  principles  of  government,  he  was  an  influen 
tial  force  in  disposing  of  sentimental  theories,  and  in 
giving  the  government  of  the  United  States  a  form 
which  has  enabled  it  to  endure.  Appointed  a  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  by  President  Washington,  he 
served  in  this  office  until  his  death  in  1798  at  Edenton, 
N.  C.,  while  absent  from  home  on  circuit  duty.  He 
was  an  impressive  orator.  Wilson's  published  works 
are  chiefly  his  lectures  delivered  at  the  College  of  Phil 
adelphia,  where  he  was  the  first  to  hold  a  professorship 
of  law.  His  writings  are  a  reflection  of  the  man  as  he 
was,  learned  and  practical  in  all  things,  with  but  a 
small  tincture  of  the  imaginative  quality,  which  we  do 
not  expect  in  the  papers  of  statesmen,  though  it  be 
sometimes  added  to  enliven  their  work.  In  concluding 
the  oration  which  he  delivered  at  the  celebration  in 
Philadelphia  on  July  4,  1788  in  honor  of  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution,  James  Wilson  said: 

"  The  commencement  of  our  government  has  been 
eminently  glorious :  let  our  progress  in  every  excellence 
be  proportionately  great.  It  will  —  it  must  be  so. 
What  an  enrapturing  prospect  opens  on  the  United 
States.  Placid  husbandry  walks  in  front  attended  by 
the  venerable  plough.  Lowing  herds  adorn  our  val 
leys;  bleating  flocks  spread  over  our  hills;  verdant 


104  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

meadows,  enamelled  pastures,  yellow  harvests,  bending 
orchards,  rise  in  rapid  succession  from  east  to  west. 
Plenty  with  her  copious  horn  sits  easy,  smiling,  and  in 
conscious  complacency  enjoys  and  presides  over  the 
scenes.  Commerce  next  advances  in  all  her  splendid 
and  embellished  forms.  The  rivers  and  lakes  and  seas 
are  crowded  with  ships.  Their  shores  are  covered  with 
cities.  The  cities  are  filled  with  inhabitants.  The  arts 
decked  with  elegance,  yet  with  simplicity,  appear  in 
beautiful  variety  and  well-adjusted  arrangement. 
Around  them  are  diffused  in  rich  abundance  the  neces 
saries,  the  decencies  and  the  ornaments  of  life.  With 
heartfelt  contentment  industry  beholds  his  honest  labors 
flourishing  and  secure.  Peace  walks  serene  and  un- 
alarmed  over  all  the  unmolested  regions,  while  liberty, 
virtue  and  religion  go  hand  in  hand,  harmoniously  pro 
tecting,  enlivening  and  exalting  all." 

Philadelphia  was  the  seat  of  government  of  the  col 
onies.  It  had  enjoyed  this  distinction  ever  since  the 
first  Continental  Congress  had  assembled  here  in  1774, 
except  for  an  enforced  removal  to  Baltimore  and  York, 
Pa.,  when  the  British  threatened  and  then  occupied  the 
city.  Later,  for  a  while  New  York  was  its  meeting- 
place,  but  pending  the  preparations  for  building  a  cap 
ital  city  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  Robert  Morris, 
in  1790,  brought  the  government  back  to  Philadelphia, 
where  it  remained  through  Washington's  two  adminis 
trations  and  into  the  midst  of  John  Adams's.  It  was 
central  geographically,  a  matter  of  the  greatest  mo 
ment  when  delegates  to  Congress  must  ride  on  horse 
back  or  in  stage  coaches  over  unimproved  roads.  It 
was  a  compromise  between  Virginia  and  Massachusetts. 
Hither  came  Washington,  Thomas  Jefferson,  James 


THE     BARTRAM     HOUSE 

In  Bartram's   Gardens  (See   page  56.) 


SEVENTH    AND    MARKET    STREETS 

House  in  which  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  framed 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION     105 

Madison  and  all  the  Southerners;  Hamilton  and  Jay 
of  New  York;  John  Adams  and  the  New  England  lead 
ers.  Hither,  too,  came  the  foreign  legates  and  attaches, 
together  with  the  place-seekers,  bounty  claimants,  tour 
ists  and  sight-seers  who  are  the  necessary  trappings  of 
the  seat  of  government  of  any  country,  however  small 
its  size  or  mean  its  prerogatives  and  powers. 

Nearly  all  the  Revolutionary  Fathers  lived  in  lodg 
ing  or  boarding  houses  situated  east  of  the  State  House 
and  between  Arch  and  Pine  Streets.  Some  viewed 
the  Delaware  River  and  its  shipping  from  their  cham 
ber  windows.  Jefferson  wrote  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence,  the  document  so  forcibly  voicing  the  pop 
ular  conviction  in  regard  to  liberty  and  equality,  and 
the  other  tenets  of  the  new  philosophy,  in  the  lodgings 
he  had  taken  in  the  second  story  of  a  new  brick  house 
belonging  to  a  young  German  bricklayer  named  Graff. 
This  building,  situated  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Sev 
enth  and  Market  Streets,  was  then  almost  the  last  house 
in  the  city  to  the  westward.  The  site  is  now  occupied 
by  a  bank,  upon  whose  granite  walls  a  tablet  commem 
orates  the  event.  The  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  was  framed  in  the  State  House  in  1787,  and  with 
its  adoption  expired  the  hopes  of  the  Pennsylvania  rad 
icals.  There  was  still  to  be  expressed  only  their  wrath 
at  being  soundly  beaten,  and  political  vituperation  sur 
charged  the  atmosphere  in  Philadelphia  for  the  rest  o; 
the  century. 

The  contest  in  Pennsylvania  between  those  who  be 
lieved  in  the  force  of  tradition  and  the  teachings  of 
history,  and  leaders  of  Cannon's  kind  who  wished  to 
be  rid  of  the  "  trumpery  "  of  learning  and,  like  Rous 
seau,  to  take  their  laws  from  men  clad  in  skins  sitting 


106  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

under  oak  trees,  involved  the  patriots  coming  to  Phila 
delphia  from  other  colonies.  Hamilton  was  too  young 
a  man  to  understand  the  deep  meaning  of  the  two  philo 
sophical  tendencies  when  the  contest  was  begun;  but 
to  John  Adams  the  Pennsylvania  Constitution  was  gall 
and  wormwood.  He  employed  a  large  part  of  his 
leisure  time  while  representing  the  colonies  in  Europe 
in  the  writing  of  a  long  and  careful  comparative  study 
of  the  governments  of  the  world,  deprecating  the  im 
practical  provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  Pennsyl 
vania  and  defending  the  constitutions  of  the  other 
states  against  the  attacks  of  Turgot,  who  had  taken  up 
a  brief  for  Pennsylvania.  His  works  strongly  testify 
to  the  vigorous  efforts  he  put  forth  to  counteract  Frank 
lin's  influence  and  to  correct  the  impression  that  Amer 
ica,  either  in  nation  or  state,  could  or  would  be  gov 
erned  by  a  tempestuous  convention  such  as  was  soon  to 
assume  control  of  the  destinies  of  France.  No  writer 
in  Pennsylvania,  none  in  America  and  none  in  the  world 
but  Burke  exerted  such  power  to  set  the  world  right  in 
a  matter  that  had  long  made  Philadelphia  and  Paris 
the  centres  of  a  dangerous  philosophy. 

From  the  intellectual  disputes  of  the  war  even  scien 
tists  and  poets  could  not  escape.  Of  the  former,  there 
are  two  of  eminence  to  be  named,  David  Rittenhouse 
and  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  while  Francis  Hopkinson  and 
Philip  Freneau  are  the  leading  belletristic  writers  of  the 

od. 

littenhouse  was  the  most  profound  scientist  whom 
the  times  produced.  While  Franklin's  ingenuity  was 
universal,  since  he  knew  as  much  about  one  subject  as 
another,  and  delved  not  too  deeply  into  any,  Ritten 
house  devoted  his  attention  to  mathematics  and  astron- 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION      107 

omy,  gaming  a  position  of  high  authority  in  them. 
His  ancestors  were  Mennonites  who  came  from  Hol 
land  and  established  the  famous  paper  mill  on  the  Wis- 
sahickon.  Born  in  a  house  overlooking  that  stream, 
his  father,  Matthias  Rittenhouse,  soon  removed  to  a 
farm  in  Norriton,  then  in  Philadelphia,  but  now  in 
Montgomery  County  near  the  present  Norristown. 
At  that  time  David  was  three  years  old  and  it  was  ex 
pected  that  he  would  become  a  farmer.  He  early 
displayed  mechanical  skill.  Without  educational  op 
portunities,  he  perfected  himself  in  mathematics.  At 
eight  he  had  built  a  watermill;  at  seventeen  a  wooden 
clock  which  led  to  his  setting  up  a  shop  as  a  clock  and 
mathematical  instrument  maker.  Of  a  delicate  mould 
he  applied  himself  too  diligently  and  was  attacked  by 
a  lung  affection  that  kept  him  in  pain  as  long  as  he 
lived. 

He  discovered  a  method  of  fluxions  without  knowl 
edge  of  the  researches  of  Newton  or  Leibnitz,  and 
although  deprived  of  credit  for  the  performance,  to 
which  he  seems  to  have  been  as  well  entitled  as  they, 
he  knew  no  discouragement.  His  clocks  became  cele 
brated.  He  invented  a  thermometer  which  was  based 
upon  the  principle  of  the  expansion  and  contraction  of 
metals.  He  made  telescopes  and  was  soon  engaged  in 
a  study  of  the  heavens.  In  1770  he  completed  his 
orrery,  a  mechanical  representation  in  brass  of  the 
planetary  system,  by  which  the  relative  position  of  each 
body  upon  any  day  for  five  thousand  years  either  for 
ward  or  backward  could  be  readily  displayed.  The 
ingenious  device  was  purchased  by  Princeton  College 
for  £300.  A  duplicate  was  made  for  the  College  of 
Philadelphia,  the  inventor  was  voted  a  sum  of  money 


io8  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

as  a  premium  by  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
after  the  French  alliance,  the  Philosophical  Society  de 
termined  to  have  him  construct  one  for  presentation 
to  the  King  of  France.  By  this  time  Rittenhouse  had 
made  the  acquaintance  and  won  the  favor  of  all  the 
patrons  of  learning  in  the  colony,  including  Dr.  Wil 
liam  Smith  and  the  professors  at  the  College.  His 
fame  was  greatly  enhanced  by  the  service  he  performed 
in  connection  with  the  American  Philosophical  Society 
in  making  their  observations  of  the  transit  of  Venus, 
an  opportunity  which  had  not  occurred  for  many  years 
and  would  not  be  repeated  for  more  than  a  century. 
Three  parties  were  organized;  one  to  use  the  telescope 
mounted  on  a  wooden  platform  in  the  State  House 
yard,  from  which  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
later  read;  a  second  to  go  to  the  Delaware  Capes;  and 
a  third  to  David  Rittenhouse's  home  in  Norriton  where 
the  results  were  particularly  noteworthy.  The  sky  was 
clear,  the  reports  delighted  the  astronomers  of  Europe. 
Rittenhouse's  political  sentiments,  which  were  openly 
expressed,  were  akin  to  Franklin's.  He  had  a  promi 
nent  part  in  the  convention  which  framed  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Constitution  of  1776  and  was  a  radical  Constitu 
tionalist,  from  which  party  for  twelve  years  he  enjoyed 
his  place  as  Treasurer  of  the  state  and  other  offices. 
All  kings  were  abominations  in  his  eyes  and  he  once 
uttered  the  wish,  ascribed  at  a  later  day  to  Henry  C. 
Carey  and  his  group  of  nationalists,  "  that  Nature 
would  raise  her  everlasting  bars  between  the  new  and 
old  world  and  make  a  voyage  to  Europe  as  impracti 
cable  as  one  to  the  moon."  A  newspaper  poet  wrote 
in  1777:— 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION     109 

"  Meddle  not  with  state  affairs, 
Keep  acquaintance  with  the  stars; 
Science,  David,  is  thy  line; 
Warp  not  Nature's  great  design, 
If  thou  to  fame  would'st  rise." 

All  to  no  purpose.  Rittenhouse  deeply  concerned 
himself  with  liberal  politics.  After  Franklin's  death 
he  became  the  President  of  the  Philosophical  Society, 
an  office  which  he  held  until  his  death  in  1796,  uphold 
ing  all  its  intellectual  traditions.  Cobbett  in  his  untrue 
way  said  that  Rittenhouse  was  an  atheist  in  the  pay  of 
France.  "  The  American  Philosophical  Society 
composed  of  a  nest  of  such  wretches  as  hardly  evei 
met  together  before,"  this  arch  libeller  continued  am 
its  President  gave  some  basis  to  the  allegations  of  its 
enemies  by  taking  sides  openly  with  the  party  which 
sympathized  with  the  French  revolutionists  and  raged 
up  and  down  the  streets,  urging  a  renewal  of  the  war 
with  England.  Aside  from  some  translations  from  the 
German,  Rittenhouse's  literary  work  was  confined  to 
scientific  papers  included  for  the  most  part  in  the  Trans 
actions  of  the  Philosophical  Society. 

In  Europe  today  Philadelphia  is  perhaps  more  widely 
known  as  a  centre  of  medical  learning  than  for  any 
other  intellectual  attainment  whatsoever.  A  Philadel- 
phian  travelling  about  the  world,  if  he  make  known 
in  educated  circles  the  name  of  the  city  whence  he 
comes,  will  discover  that  its  fame  as  the  home  of  med 
ical  schools  and  eminent  surgeons  and  physicians  is 
widespread.  The  foundations  for  this  distinction  were 
laid  in  the  eighteenth  century.  The  time  when  men 
could  be  cured  of  their  various  ills  by  decoctions  of 
herbs,  mysterious  powders,  "  Chinese  stones,"  "  tooth- 


i  io  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

ache  bags,"  eelskins,  iron  skewers,  a  piece  of  flitch 
buried  under  the  eaves  of  a  house,  and  the  remedies 
born  of  superstition  and  charlatanry  which  were  pre 
scribed  in  the  almanacs,  was  rapidly  passing,  and  med 
icine  as  a  science  was  winning,  and  deserving  to  win, 
general  respect. 

The  first  thing  approaching  a  medical  school  in 
Philadelphia  was  Dr.  William  Shippen,  Jr.'s,  "  Ana 
tomical  Theatre"  in  which  he  gave  lectures  in  1762, 
continuing  them  for  three  years  or  until,  with  the  aid 
of  Dr.  John  Morgan  and  others,  he  established  the 
medical  school  in  connection  with  the  College  of  Phil 
adelphia.  He  held  a  professorship  in  the  College  and 
its  successor,  the  University,  until  1806,  or  for  more 
than  forty  years. 

The  real  founder  of  medical  science  in  this  country 
was  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  the  "  American  Hippocrates  " 
or  the  "  American  Sydenham "  as  he  is  sometimes 
called.  Born  in  1745  on  a  farm  in  Byberry,  a  few 
miles  northeast  of  Philadelphia,  of  stock  that  had 
fought  in  Cromwell's  army,  the  boy  was  early  brought 
to  the  city.  His  father  died  and  he  came  under  the 
care  of  his  mother,  who  sought  in  Philadelphia  the 
means  of  educating  her  children.  Benjamin,  when  not 
yet  fifteen  years  of  age,  graduated  at  Princeton  Col 
lege,  and  then  gave  his  attention  to  the  study  of  medi 
cine  under  tutors  in  Philadelphia,  perfecting  himself 
at  Edinburgh  where  he  received  his  doctor's  degree  in 
1768.  He  came  back  to  Philadelphia  in  the  next  year 
and  took  a  professorship  in  the  new  medical  school, 
being  a  teacher  in  the  College  from  this  time  continu 
ously  until  his  death  in  1813.  He  reached  the  height 
of  his  career  in  1793,  during  the  yellow  fever  epidemic. 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION     in 

Nearly  all  the  doctors  had  fled  the  city  at  sight  of 
this  dread  visitant,  and  when  six  thousand  were  sick  or 
dying  but  two  remained  with  him  to  alleviate  their  suf 
ferings.  The  disease  broke  out  in  July  and  it  raged 
for  about  one  hundred  days,  or  until  the  end  of  Sep 
tember.  Some  forty-five  hundred  persons  died.  The 
rich  fled  in  all  directions;  while  many  of  the  poor  were 
taken  to  tents  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city.  Dr.  Rush 
devised  a  method  of  treatment  which  consisted  princi 
pally  of  bleeding  his  patients  and  purging  them  with 
mercury.  He  often  treated  more  than  one  hundred 
thus  in  a  day.  His  house  was  besieged  by  men  arid 
women  who  came  to  beg  him  to  save  them,  or  some  one 
dear  to  them.  He  was  compelled  to  drive  his  chaise 
at  breakneck  speed  to  escape  the  petitioners  who  hoped 
to  intercept  him  in  the  streets.  He  himself  barely  es 
caped  with  his  life;  he  was  so  exhausted  that  he  was 
with  difficulty  raised  from  his  last  attack.  His  blood 
letting  into  bowls  or  upon  the  ground,  when  the  dish 
was  not  at  hand,  was  so  free,  and  his  purges  were  so 
invariably  prescribed  that  he  was  attacked  viciously  by 
doctors  recommending  other  modes  of  treatment.  In 
deed,  he  was  threatened  with  expulsion  from  the  city. 
Freneau  wrote  at  this  time : — 

"  Doctors  raving  and  disputing, 
Death's  pale  army  still  recruiting. 
What  a  pother, 
One  with  'tother, 
Some  a-writing,  some  a-shooting. 

"  Nature's  poisons  here  collected, 
Water,  earth  and  air  infected; 


ii2  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

O!  what  pity 
Such  a  city 
Was  in  such  a  place  erected." 

William  Cobbett  ("Peter  Porcupine")  attacked 
Rush  in  his  "  Gazette,"  and,  the  doctor  suing  for  libel,  a 
famous  case  came  into  the  courts.  Rush  won  his  suit 
and  Cobbett  was  compelled  to  pay  $5,000  in  damages, 
which  the  victor,  with  honor  satisfied,  devoted  to  char 
ity. 

Dr.  Rush  was  actively  interested  in  the  politics  of 
the  Revolution,  though  on  the  side  which  opposed 
Franklin  and  Rittenhouse.  He  wrote  and  worked  to 
repeal  the  Pennsylvania  Constitution  of  1776  and  ad 
vocated  a  stronger  confederation  of  the  states.  Like 
Dr.  Richard  Peters,  his  heart  was  full  of  benevolence, 
seasoned  by  good  judgment,  and  his  sympathies  went 
out  to  his  fellow-men  in  all  directions.  John  Wool- 
man,  the  Quaker  preacher;  Benjamin  Lay,  a  queer  little 
dwarf  who  lived  in  a  cave  out  on  the  Old  York  Road 
and  occasionally  stalked  into  Quaker  meetings;  and  An 
thony  Benezet,  a  French  Huguenot  who  became  a 
Quaker  and  arrived  in  Philadelphia  in  1731,  had  un 
remittingly  denounced  negro  slavery.  Benjamin  Rush 
carried  on  the  agitation  at  every  opportunity.  He  ad 
vocated  the  culture  of  the  maple  tree,  hoping  that  sugar 
might  be  obtained  from  it  in  sufficient  quantities  to 
emancipate  the  negro  in  the  West  Indies.  He  pub 
lished  essays  upon  free  schools  and  urged  the  higher  ed 
ucation  of  women.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  oppose 
capital  punishment  and  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  and 
tobacco.  He  was  a  kind  of  perfectionist.  "  If  he  had 
no  other  claim  to  fame,"  said  Dr.  William  Pepper, 
"  Rush  would  stand  high  as  a  philanthropist  and  social 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION     113 

reformer.  He  was  inspired  by  no  love  of  notoriety 
nor  deterred  by  any  dread  of  unpopularity." 

His  literary  style  was  attractive.  Even  his  medical 
writings,  which  comprise  several  volumes,  abound  in 
classical  allusions  and  poetical  references,  so  that  they 
are  interesting  to  the  non-professional  reader.  He 
was  the  first  to  lecture  upon  diseases  of  the  mind  and 
wrote  a  book  upon  insanity  which  passed  through  sev 
eral  editions.  Indeed,  until  1883  it  was  one  of  only 
two  systematic  treatises  on  the  subject  which  had  been 
published  in  America.  He  was  greatly  beloved  by  the 
leaders  who  came  to  Philadelphia  during  the  Revolu 
tion,  and  was  the  friend  and  correspondent  through  life 
of  many  of  the  famous  men  of  the  United  States  and 
Europe. 

In  writers  esteemed  to  be  purely  literary,  the  times 
were  not  very  productive.  If  the  average  man  were 
asked  to  designate  such  an  one,  he  would  very  likely 
pronounce  the  name  of  Francis  Hopkinson,  and  if  he 
were  required  to  cite  a  work  by  that  writer,  he  would 
instinctively  mention  "  The  Battle  of  the  Kegs."  This 
satirical  ballad,  mere  doggerel  as  it  was,  describes  the 
ludicrous  commotion  created  among  the  British  on  oc 
cupying  Philadelphia  because  of  a  report  that  the 
Americans  were  setting  adrift  in  the  upper  river  kegs 
of  powder,  fitted  with  springs  to  explode  the  contents 
upon  striking  any  obstacle,  and  designed  to  do  havoc 
to  the  shipping  in  the  harbor, —  ancestors  of  the  modern 
torpedo.  It  had  instant  popularity,  such  as  works  of 
this  kind  sometimes  enjoy,  if  they  appear  at  the  ripe 
moment;  and  as  a  bit  of  political  satire  gained  a  place 
beside  TrumbuH's  "  McFingal."  Hopkinson  was  the 
son  of  Thomas  Hopkinson,  an  English  gentleman  who 


ii4  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

had  settled  in  Philadelphia  and  who  was  probably  the 
inventor  of  the  lightning  rod  rather  than  Benjamin 
Franklin.  The  son  graduated  at  the  College  under  Dr. 
William  Smith,  to  whose  group  he  belonged.  His 
muse  was  cultivated  at  an  early  age,  but  he  had  less 
talent  than  Nathaniel  Evans  or  Thomas  Godfrey,  Jr., 
whose  friend  he  was,  and  has  left  scarcely  anything 
that  can  cause  him  properly  to  be  considered  as  a  bard. 
"  One  of  your  pretty  little  curious,  ingenious  men  " 
with  "  a  head  no  bigger  than  an  apple,"  as  John  Adams 
wrote,  he  was  a  general  artistic  and  literary  dilettante. 

He  studied  law  and  was  interested  in  music,  paint 
ing,  science  and  all  forms  of  culture,  marrying  Miss 
Borden  of  Bordentown,  N.  J.,  where  afterward  he 
lived  for  several  years.  He  signed  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  was  an  Anti-constitutionalist  in  Penn- 
/  sylvania,  and  later  a  Federalist.  His  literary  service 
was  political  and  in  the  line  of  satire.  He  is  accounted 
to  have  achieved  much  by  ridicule.  The  play  of  this 
writer's  fancy,  which  had  delicacy  beyond  that  of  most 
other  writers  of  the  time,  is  enjoyed  in  the  preface  to 
"A  Pretty  Story,"  one  of  his  satirical  works  published 
in  1774.  He  concludes  it: 

"  As  I  am  but  a  clumsy  carpenter  at  best,  I  shall  not 
attempt  to  decorate  my  little  cottage  with  any  but  out 
of  door  ornaments;  but  as  it  would  be  inconvenient  and 
uncomfortable  to  have  my  front  door  open  immediately 
into  the  apartments  of  my  house,  I  have  made  this 
preface  by  way  of  entry.  And  now,  gentle  reader,  if 
you  should  think  my  entry  too  plain  and  simple  you  may 
set  your  imagination  to  work  and  furnish  it  with  a  grand 
staircase,  with  cornices,  stucco  and  paintings.  .  .  . 
Or  if  you  like  not  this,  you  may  suppose  that  the  follow- 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION     115 

ing  sheets  were  found  in  the  cabinet  of  some  deceased 
gentleman;  or  that  they  were  dug  out  of  an  ancient 
ruin,  or  discovered  in  a  hermit's  cave,  or  dropped  from 
the  clouds  in  a  hail  storm.  In  short,  you  may  suppose 
just  what  you  please.  And  when  by  the  help  of  the 
imagination  you  have  seasoned  the  preface  to  your  pal 
ate,  you  may  turn  over  this  leaf  and  feast  upon  the  body 
of  the  work  itself." 

While  Francis  Hopkinson's  was  a  very  thin  note, 
Philip  Freneau's  had  the  robust  ring  of  poetry.  The 
contest  over  the  title  to  place  as  the  first  American  bard 
has  brought  forward  many  names.  Perhaps  it  may 
be  at  an  end  since  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly  "  has  recently 
said:  "  We  do  not  hesitate  to  assert  roundly  that  Fre- 
neau  was  the  first  really  interesting  American  poetical 
character  and  the  first  citizen  of  these  states  to  write 
poetry  of  real  distinction." 

Freneau  came  of  a  French  Huguenot  family  settled 
in  New  York  City.  His  father,  Pierre  Freneau,  was 
an  importer  of  wines,  a  man  of  fortune,  as  is  indicated 
by  the  fact  that  he  resided  in  later  years  on  an  estate 
of  one  thousand  acres  in  New  Jersey  in  regal  plenty, 
with  slaves  and  a  menage  suggestive  of  the  South. 
Philip,  who  was  born  in  1752,  was  sent  to  Princeton 
College,  where  he  graduated  in  1771  in  the  class  of 
Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge  and  James  Madison,  who 
vainly  wooed  Freneau's  sister.  While  in  college,  there 
were  signs  of  poetic  promise  in  his  verses  on  "  The 
Power  of  Fancy,"  which  are  accredited  to  him  when 
he  was  only  eighteen: — 

"  Wakeful,  vagrant,  restless  thing, 
Ever  wandering  on  the  wing; 
Who  thy  wondrous  source  can  find, 


u6  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Fancy,  regent  of  the  mind? 

A  spark  from  Jove's  resplendent  throne, 

But  thy  nature  all  unknown. 

Ah,  what  is  all  this  mighty  whole, 
These  suns  and  stars  that  round  us  roll? 
What  are  they  all,  where'er  they  shine, 
But  Fancies  of  the  power  Divine? 
What  is  this  globe,  these  lands  and  seas, 
And  heat  and  cold  and  flowers  and  trees, 
And  life,  and  death,  and  beast,  and  man, 
And  time  that  with  the  sun  began, 
But  thoughts  on  reason's  scale,  combin'd, 
Ideas  of  the  Almighty  Mind  ?  " 

In  1778  his  classmate  and  friend  Brackenridge,  a 
native  of  York  County,  Pa.,  who  had  been  a  teacher 
and  later  a  chaplain  in  the  army,*  persuaded  Francis 
Bailey,  a  printer  in  Philadelphia,  to  undertake  the  pub 
lication  of  the  "  United  States  Magazine."  It  was 
begun  to  disprove  the  common  allegation  that  the 
American  colonists  if  separated  from  England  would 
become  "  illiterate  ourang-outangs."  The  effort  would 
be  made  at  a  most  unfortunate  season  "  to  paint 
the  graces  on  the  front  of  war  and  invite  the  muses  to 
our  country."  This  magazine  brought  Freneau  to 
Philadelphia  and  "tie  contributed  verse  and  prose  to 
each  issue;  but  its  design  was  entirely  chimerical  and 
it  died  a  natural  death  after  completing  its  first  volume. 

*  Brackenridge  removed  to  Pittsburg  in  1781  where  he  became 
very  prominent  at  the  bar.  Appointed  a  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Pennsylvania  in  1799  he  sat  upon  the  bench  until  his  death 
in  1816.  He  was  the  author  of  "  Modern  Chivalry  or  the  Adven 
tures  of  a  Captain  and  Teague  O'Regan,  his  Servant."  a  political 
satire  in  the  form  of  a  four-volume  novel,  one  of  the  oldest  of 
American  works  of  fiction. 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION     117 

Brackenridge  complained  bitterly  of  his  ill-fortune. 
A  large  class,  said  he,  in  his  valedictory,  "  inhabit  the 
region  of  stupidity  and  cannot  bear  to  have  the  tran- 
quility  of  their  repose  disturbed  by  the  villainous  shock 
of  a  book.  Reading  is  to  them  the  worst  of  all  tor 
ments  and  I  remember  very  well  that  at  the  commence 
ment  of  the  work  it  was  their  language,  *  Art  thou 
come  to  torment  us  before  the  time  ?  '  We  will  now 
say  to  them,  *  Sleep  on  and  take  your  rest.'  ' 

Freneau,  who  had  already  had  some  experience  be 
fore  the  mast,  for  the  sea  called  him  loudly  so  long  as 
he  lived,  now  shipped  on  the  "  Aurora  "  which  had  the 
ill-luck  to  be  captured,  and  the  poet  with  the  rest  of 
the  crew  spent  a  season  on  a  British  prison  ship,  an  ex 
perience  he  commemorated  in  verse.  Upon  his  release, 
he  returned  to  Philadelphia  and  on  April  25,  1781,  ap 
peared  the  first  number  of  his  new  weekly  paper,  "  The 
Freeman's  Journal  or  North  American  Intelligencer." 
It  too  had  Bailey  for  its  publisher.  Its  announced 
purpose  was  "  to  encourage  genius,  to  deter  vice  and 
disrobe  tyranny  and  misrule  of  every  plumage."  Fre 
neau,  the  foremost  poet  of  the  time,  could  escape  polit 
ical  influence  no  more  than  any  of  his  fellows  and  he 
radically  espoused  the  cause  of  the  French.  For  three 
years  this  paper  lived  and  shot  its  pointed  darts  at 
England,  roundly  berating  all  conservatives.  The 
"  Epistle  to  Sylvius  "  was  Freneau's  farewell:  — 
"  Then,  Sylvius,  come,  let  you  and  I 

On  Neptune's  aid  once  more  rely. 

Perhaps  the  muse  may  still  impart 

The  balm  to  ease  the  aching  heart. 

Though  cold  might  chill  and  storms  dismay, 

Yet  Zoilus  will  be  far  away." 


ii8  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Freneau  now  engaged  principally  in  the  West  Indian 
trade,  and,  as  a  master  and  captain  of  various  vessels, 
came  in  and  out  of  Philadelphia  and  other  ports,  im 
bibing  much  of  the  irresponsibility  and  vagrancy  of  the 
sea. 

With  his  pecuniary  ills  and  misfortunes,  Freneau's 
political  philosophy  gained  in  acerbity,  and  he  became 
the  more  determined  in  his  antagonism  to  leaders  and 
measures  that  he  deemed  aristocratic.  In  the  disgust 
sometimes  felt  by  literary  men  of  all  countries  and  in 
all  ages,  Freneau  had  many  complaints  of  the  scant 
rewards  of  his  pen.  In  his  "  Expedition  of  Timothy 
Taunus  "  he  wrote: — 

"  Were  this  cartload  of  learning  the  whole  that  I  knew 
I  could  sooner  get  forward  by  mending  a  shoe; 
I  could  sooner  grow  rich  by  the  axe  or  the  spade, 
Or  thrive  by  the  meanest  mechanical  trade. 
The  tinker  himself  would  be  richer  than  I, 
For  the  tinker  has  something  that  people  will  buy; 
While  such  as  have  little  but  Latin  to  vend 
On  a  shadow  may  truly  be  said  to  depend." 

Freneau  again  appeared  in  Philadelphia  in  1791  at 
the  invitation  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  offered  him  a 
post  as  translator  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State, 
and  was  instrumental  in  making  him  the  editor  of  an 
other  newspaper,  the  "  National  Gazette."  For  two 
years,  through  the  pro-French  excitement,  of  which 
more  is  to  be  said  in  the  next  chapter,  this  paper  was 
unremitting  in  its  praise  of  Jefferson,  while  it  most  bit 
terly  attacked  Washington,  Hamilton  and  the  Feder 
alists.  After  this  experience,  Freneau  returned  to 
New  York  and  its  neighborhood,  where  he  was  soon 


PHILIP    FRENEAU 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION     119 

publishing  newspapers  again,  varying  this  employment 
with  trips  to  sea  and  settling  at  last  on  his  farm  in  a 
grove  of  locust  trees  at  Mount  Pleasant,  near  Mon- 
mouth,  N.  J.,  the  place  being  now  called  Freneau  in 
his  honor.  He  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty.  In  1832, 
when  returning  to  his  home  in  a  snow  storm,  he  was 
lost  and  died  in  a  bog. 

Misfortune  seemed  to  pursue  him  to  the  end.  His 
house  was  burned.  From  the  party  which  he  aimed  to 
aid,  although  it  was  long  in  power,  Jefferson  and  Mad 
ison  being  in  the  President's  office  for  sixteen  years, 
nothing  came  to  him  but  the  clerkship  in  Philadelphia 
during  Washington's  administration.  Proud,  sensi 
tive,  erratic  and  undependable,  there  seemed  to  be  no 
great  place  for  him  and  he  died,  as  he  had  lived,  the 
impecunious  bond-servant  of  a  vagrant  fancy. 

Philip  Freneau  had  very  marked  talents  as  a  poet, 
and  as  a  prose  writer  he  was  also  forceful  and  prolific. 
He  wrote  with  notable  facility.  His  poems  were  often 
composed  in  the  shade  of  a  tree,  whence  he  carried  his 
manuscript  to  the  printing  office,  immediately  to  put  it 
into  type  with  his  own  hands.  Of  wide  reading  in  the 
classics,  and  in  command  of  several  modern  languages, 
his  culture  asserted  itself  in  his  work.  The  range  and 
variety  of  the  subjects  he  chose  are  as  surprising  as  his 
lavish  vocabulary,  and  his  fluency  of  expression. 
Witty,  satirical,  or  seriously  poetical,  he  was  enjoyed 
in  England  as  in  America,  winning  the  praise  of  Walter 
Scott,  Jeffrey,  Campbell  and  many  British  writers  and 
critics.  His  wit  is  perhaps  as  well  illustrated  in  this 
extract  from  "  The  Silent  Academy "  as  in  any  that 
could  be  given : — 


120  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

"  Some  are  in  chains  of  wedlock  bound, 
And  some  are  hanged  and  some  are  drowned. 
Some  are  advanced  to  posts  and  places, 
And  some  in  pulpits  screw  their  faces; 
Some  at  the  bar  a  living  gain, 
Perplexing  what  they  should  explain ; 
To  soldiers  turned  a  bolder  band 
Repel  the  invaders  of  the  land; 
Some  to  the  arts  of  physic  bred, 
Despatch  their  patients  to  the  dead ; 
Some  plough  the  land  and  some  the  sea, 
And  some  are  slaves  and  some  are  free; 
Some  court  the  great  and  some  the  muse, 
And  some  subsist  by  mending  shoes; 
While  others  —  but  so  vast  the  throng, 
The  cobbler  shall  conclude  my  song." 

"  On  Humanity  and  Ingratitude  "  is  another  exam 
ple  of  Freneau's  humorous  fancy.  It  is  often  seen  in 
"  nonsense  rhyme  "  collections  and  begins : — 

"  By  the  side  of  the  sea  in  a  cottage  obscure 
There  lived  an  old  fellow  nam'd  Chariot  Boncoeur 
Who  was  free  to  his  neighbor  and  good  to  the  poor. 

Catching  fish  was  his  trade, 

And  all  people  said 

That  mischief  to  nothing  but  fish  he  design'd, 
To  all  people  else  he  was  candid  and  kind." 

A  satirical  prophecy  made  in  1782  begins  with  these 
playful  lines: — 

"  When  a  certain  great  king,  whose  initial  is  G., 
Shall  force  stamps  upon  paper,  and  folks  to  drink  tea; 
When  these  folks  burn  his  tea,  and  stampt  paper  like  stubble, 
You  may  guess  that  this  king  is  then  coming  to  trouble. 
But  when  a  petition  he  treads  under  his  feet 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION      121 

And  sends  over  the  ocean  an  army  and  fleet; 

When  that  army,  half-starved  and  frantic  with  rage, 

Shall  be  coop'd  up  with  a  leader  whose  name  rhymes  to  cage, 

When  that  leader  goes  home,  dejected  and  sad, 

You  may  then  be  assur'd  the  king's  prospects  are  bad." 

That  new  curiosity,  the  balloon,  did  not  escape  Fre- 
neau's  good-natured  satire  in  lines  as  enjoyable  now  as 
a  century  ago : — 

"  The  man  who  at  Boston  sets  out  with  the  sun 
If  the  wind  should  be  fair  may  be  with  us  at  one; 
At  Gunpowder  Ferry  drink  whiskey  at  three, 
And  by  six  be  at  Edentown  ready  for  tea. 
The  machine  shall  be  ordered  (we  hardly  need  say) 
To  travel  in  darkness  as  well  as  by  day  — 
At  Charleston  by  ten  he  for  sleep  may  prepare, 
And  by  twelve  the  next  day  be  —  the  devil  knows  where." 

Of  the  honest  poetical  value  of  Freneau's  work 
there  are  many  examples.  In  the  poem  on  "  The  Peo 
pling  of  the  West "  these  lines  are  addressed  to  the 
Mississippi : — 

"  Great  sire  of  floods,  wrhose  varied  wave 

Through  climes  and  countries  takes  its  way ; 

To  whom  creating  nature  gave 

Ten  thousand  streams  to  swell  thy  sway! 

No  longer  shall  they  useless  prove, 

Nor  idly  through  the  forests  rove; 

"  Nor  longer  shall  thy  princely  flood 

From  distant  lakes  be  swell'd  in  vain, 
Nor  longer  through  a  darksome  wood 

Advance  unnoticed  to  the  main. 
Far  other  ends  the  fates  decree 
And  commerce  plans  new  freights  for  thee." 


122  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

In  "  The  Dying  Indian  "  this  farewell  to  earth  is 
said : — 

"  To  all  that  charmed  me  where  I  strayed, 
The  winding  stream,  the  dark,  sequestered  shade; 
Adieu !    Adieu,  all  triumphs  here ! 
Adieu,  the  mountain's  lofty  swell! 
Adieu,  thou  little  verdant  hill! 
And  seas  and  stars  and  skies,  farewell 
For  some  remoter  sphere." 

Upon  Franklin's  return  to  Philadelphia  in  1785,  his 
years  made  more  serene  by  the  adulation  of  France,  he 
became  the  candidate  of  the  Constitutional  party  for 
President,  or  governor  of.  the  state,  an  office  he  held 
for  three  years.  His  home  was  in  the  centre  of  a  lot 
one  hundred  feet  in  width,  running  from  Market  to 
Chestnut  Streets,  about  midway  between  Third  and 
Fourth  Streets.  It  was  built  to  face  Chestnut  Street, 
but  an  outlet  in  that  direction  was  blocked  by  a  de 
fective  title.  Filled  with  springs,  bells,  pulleys  and 
curious  devices  of  many  kinds,  the  house  rivalled  a 
museum.  The  shelves  in  the  library  extended  to  the 
ceiling  and  Franklin  reached  a  book  by  turning  up  the 
seat  of  a  chair  and  climbing  a  step  ladder  attachment 
under  it,  still  preserved  in  the  rooms  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society;  or  by  means  of  a  long  artificial 
arm  with  a  hand  at  the  end  of  it. 

When  the  Reverend  Manasseh  Cutler  of  Massa 
chusetts  visited  Philadelphia  there  was  "  no  curiosity  " 
in  the  city  which  he  so  much  desired  to  see  as  Franklin. 
Although  he  approached  him  with  the  awe  inspired  by 
a  king,  the  great  man  was  sitting  in  a  chair  upon  the 
grass  under  a  mulberry  tree.  "  How  were  my  ideas 


THE  WRITERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION    123 

changed,"  says  he,  "  when  I  saw  a  short,  fat,  trunched 
old  man  in  a  plain  Quaker  dress,  bald  pate  and  short 
white  locks,  sitting  without  his  hat  in  this  position." 
He  exhibited  a  two-headed  snake  preserved  in  a  bottle 
of  alcohol  which  some  friend  had  sent  him,  and 
proceeded  to  draw  from  it  a  political  lesson.  How 
inconvenient,  he  argued,  if  the  serpent  in  passing 
through  the  brush  should  meet  an  obstruction.  It 
could  go  in  neither  direction.  Thus  would  it  be  with 
a  government  whose  legislature  consisted  of  two 
houses. 

Franklin  died  in  1790,  bowed  with  age,  honors  and 
a  complication  of  disorders  induced  by  gout  and  the 
stone.  The  French  revolutionists  interrupted  their  or 
gies  to  pronounce  eulogiums  upon  the  world's  great 
liberal,  but  his  name  was  honored  by  men  of  all  polit 
ical  views.  At  home  a  Philadelphian  so  antithetical  in 
standards  and  views  as  Provost  William  Smith,  de 
livered  an  oration,  under  the  auspices  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  in  the  German  Lutheran  Church 
in  Fourth  Street  in  the  presence  of  President  and  Mrs. 
Washington,  Vice-President  and  Mrs.  Adams,  and 
many  senators  and  representatives  in  Congress. 

His  youngest  daughter,  Rebecca,  the  beautiful  girl  of 
whom  Gilbert  Stuart  has  given  us  a  portrait,  expressed 
a  sentiment  which  must  have  been  secretly  shared  by 
many  Philadelphians.  On  returning  home  from  the 
church,  Dr.  Smith  asked  his  daughter  how  she  had  been 
pleased  with  the  address. 

"  Oh,  papa,  it  was  beautiful,"  she  said,  "  very 
beautiful  indeed,  only  —  papa  —  only  —  only  —  " 

"  Only  what?"  interrupted  her  father. 

"  Only,  papa,  now  you  won't  be  offended,  will  you? 


i24  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

I  don't  think  you  believed  more  than  one  tenth  part  of 
what  you  said  of  old  Ben  Lightning  Rod,  did  you?  " 

Despite  his  crude  science,  his  evil  philosophy  and  his 
homely  literary  outlook,  Franklin  was  an  extraordinary 
man  of  letters  and  a  humorist  for  all  the  ages. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR 

The  death  of  Franklin,  almost  coincident  as  it  was 
with  the  triumph  of  Federalism  and  the  beginning  of 
government  under  the  Constitution,  marks  the  dawn  of 
another  literary  era.  First,  however,  his  philosophy 
was  to  lead  to  the  excesses  in  which  the  city  rioted  dur 
ing  the  years  of  the  French  Revolution.  It  was  a 
struggle  for  an  adjustment  of  ideas;  a  trial  of  the 
strength  of  contrary  influences;  an  intellectual  combat 
to  determine  the  seat  and  limits  of  the  power  of  the 
new  government  in  reference  to  individuals  and  states. 

The  nation  at  large  was  quite  naturally  in  a  frame 
of  mind  to  sympathize  with  the  movement  to  over 
throw  monarchy  and  establish  a  republic  in  its  stead  in 
France.  Freneau,  Rittenhouse  and  many  others  al 
lowed  their  hearts  to  overrule  their  judgment,  and 
their  sympathy  passed  all  the  bounds  of  reason.  The 
anti-English  and  pro-French  demonstrations  were  soon 
beyond  control.  The  people  were  calling  each  other 
"Citizen"  and  "  Citess."  Jacobin  Clubs  were  organ-' 
ized.  Men,  women  and  children  wore  the  tri-color  and 
the  cockade,  intertwined  with  French  and  American 
flags,  erected  liberty  poles,  sang  "  Ca  Ira,"  and  danced 
the  carmagnole  in  the  public  squares.  There  were  ban 
quets  everywhere  at  which  wine  was  drunk  to  various 
revolutionary  sentiments : 

125 


126  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

"  The  fair  of  France  and  America, —  may  each  one 
weave  a  cap  of  liberty  for  her  husband." 

"The  spirit  of  '76  and  '92, —  may  the  citizens  of 
America  and  France  as  they  are  equal  in  virtue  be  equal 


in  success." 


"The  extinction  of  monarchs, —  may  the  next  gen 
eration  know  kings  only  by  the  page  of  history  and 
wonder  that  such  monsters  were  ever  permitted  to 


exist." 


"  May  tyrants  never  be  withheld  from  the  guillo 
tine's  closest  embraces." 

"  May  those  who  envy  us  never  partake  of  our  bless 
ings  and  their  constant  abiding  place  be  Nova  Scotia 
and  Botany  Bay,  there  to  live  on  cod-fish  tails  soaked 
in  whale  oil  with  a  small  morsel  of  bread." 

At  these  dinners  the  red  cap  of  liberty  was  placed 
upon  the  head  of  the  chief  guest  and  then  each  one 
present  fitted  it  to  the  pate  of  his  next  neighbor  as  a 
mark  of  good  fellowship.  When  Citizen  Genet  ar 
rived,  the  excitement  reached  its  height  and  there  was 
grave  risk  that  the  new  nation,  whose  capital  was  at 
Philadelphia,  would  be  carried  by  popular  storm  into 
a  European  war  in  defence  of  regicide.  Encouraged 
by  Jefferson,  Genet  paraded  the  country  like  some  con 
queror  until  President  Washington,  controlled  by  his 
native  sense  and  supported  by  the  valued  advice  of 
Hamilton  and  that  bold  and  powerful  pillar  of  Feder 
alism,  Senator  Robert  Morris  of  Pennsylvania,  asserted 
the  authority  of  which  he  was  possessed  by  the  new 
Constitution,  but  had  not  yet  exercised;  and  the  wrath 
of  men  who  disliked  every  suggestion  of  personal  re 
straint  was  boundless.  "  Ten  thousand  people  in  the 
streets  of  Philadelphia,"  wrote  John  Adams,  "  day 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  127 

after  day  threatened  to  drag  Washington  out  of  his 
house  and  effect  a  revolution  in  the  government,  or 
compel  it  to  declare  war  in  favor  of  the  French  Revo 
lution  and  against  England."  Men  with  tawny  skins 
and  Creole  belles,  who  came  from  the  West  Indies, 
sipped  their  liquors  at  tables  on  balconies  and  on  the 
pavements  in  tropical  abandon.  Only  the  yellow  fever, 
it  is  believed,  saved  the  city  from  a  bloody  revolution. 

When  John  Jay  negotiated  a  treaty  of  amity  and 
commerce  with  Great  Britain,  with  the  support  of 
Washington  and  the  administration  in  Philadelphia, 
mobs  again  roamed  the  streets.  Once  the  windows  in 
the  English  consul's  office  were  broken.  At  another 
time  at  a  dinner  party  a  pig,  its  head  severed  from  its 
body,  was  carried  about  the  table,  an  exhibition  meant 
to  symbolize  the  decapitation  of  the  French  king,  where 
upon  each  guest  jabbed  his  knife  into  the  flesh  to  em 
phasize  the  loathing  he  felt  for  monarchy. 

Freneau  was  editing  the  "  National  Gazette  "  and 
by  its  assaults  upon  Washington,  Hamilton  and  the 
Federalists,  called  forth  the  praise  of  democrats.  Jef 
ferson  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  his  friend  had  "  saved 
our  constitution  which  was  fast  galloping  into  mon* 
archy."  The  popular  party  was  recruiting  its  strength 
from  new  sources  and  it  now  had  in  its  ranks  such 
writers  as  Benjamin  Franklin  Bache,  James  Thomas 
Callender,  Alexander  James  Dallas,  Mathew  Carey 
and  a  less  distinguished  assortment  of  Scotchmen,  Irish 
men  and  English-haters  of  whom  the  time  was  so  not 
ably  prolific.  As  an  antidote  to  scurrilous  democrats 
there  was  provided  William  Cobbett  ("  Peter  Porcu 
pine"),  the  vitriolic  partisan  of  aristocracy,  and  be 
tween  the  red-handed  doctrines  of  France  and  the  im- 


128  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

moderate  Federalism  of  New  England  was  being  sought 
a  mean  which  at  last  bore  fruit  in  the  political  philos 
ophy  of  Jefferson  and  Madison,  as  exhibited  in  their 
presidential  administrations. 

Benjamin  Franklin  Bache  (Baitch)  was  a  son  of 
Richard  Bache,  an  Englishman  of  aristocratic  lean 
ings,  who  had  married  Franklin's  daughter  Sally,  later 
acquiring  a  fortune  in  Philadelphia  in  merchandising 
and  as  postmaster-general.  The  son,  who  was  named 
for  his  grandfather,  was  taken  to  Paris  and  Geneva  to 
be  educated  under  his  distinguished  grandsire's  care, 
and  came  back  a  great  advocate  of  liberty. 

In  October,  1790,  he  began  to  publish  the  "Gen 
eral  Advertiser/'  afterward  known  as  the  "  Aurora," 
because  of  the  rays  of  light  forming  the  design  with 
which  the  title  of  each  issue  was  ornamented.  The  ed 
itor  wrote  of  Washington  when  the  Jay  treaty  was 
signed:  **  Does  the  President  fancy  himself  the  Grand 
Llama  of  this  country  that  we  are  to  approach  him  with 
superstitious  reverence  or  religious  regard?  His  an 
swer  to  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia  bespeaks  a  con 
tempt  for  the  people  that  no  other  evidence  but  his 
own  letter  could  render  credible.  He  has  disdained  to 
look  down  with  an  eye  of  complacency  from  that  emi 
nence  on  which  they  have  placed  him,  and  has  assumed 
a  tone  of  mystery  and  authority  which  would  induce  us 
to  suppose  ourselves  in  Potsdam  instead  of  Philadel- 
phia." 

Bache  was  soon  joined  in  the  office  of  the  "  Aurora  " 
by  William  Duane,  and  by  him  its  reputation  for  keen 
attack  and  common  blackguardism  was  developed  very 
rapidly. 

Duane  came  of  Irish  Catholic  parents  who  had  set- 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  129 

tied  near  Lake  Champlain  in  New  York  State.  His 
mother  took  him  to  Ireland  to  be  educated.  When 
only  nineteen  he  married  a  Protestant  girl,  whereupon  he 
was  dismissed  from  his  home,  sacrificed  his  hereditary 
prospects,  and  must  go  out  to  make  a  living  for  him 
self.  He  became  a  printer.  For  a  time  he  had  a 
newspaper  in  India,  where  he  was  arrested  by  the  gov 
ernment  and  returned  to  England.  He  wrote  for  a 
while  for  the  "  General  Advertiser  "  of  London,  which 
developed  into  the  London  "Times,"  and  in  1795  ne 
came  to  Philadelphia,  where  Bache  engaged  him  as  a 
writer  on  the  "Aurora." 

In  1798  the  yellow  fever  again  swept  the  city. 
Bache,  still  only  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  was  a  victim 
and  Duane  became  the  "  Aurora's  "  chief  editor,  and 
soon  its  owner  by  marrying  the  young  widow.  He 
continued  at  his  post  until  1822,  though  the  paper  ex 
erted  a  diminishing  influence  after  the  seat  of  govern 
ment  was  removed  to  Washington.  He  impaled  Fed 
eralists,  all  to  him  English  lords,  aristocrats  and  people 
haters,  on  the  shafts  of  his  ribald  ridicule.  Many 
caustic  wits  wrote  for  his  paper,  among  others  Fre- 
neau,  who  returned  to  his  old  pen  name  of  "  Robert 
Slender,"  after  which  he  now  appended  the  letters  O.  S. 
M.  Not  entitled  to  an  A.  M.  or  an  LL.  D.,  he  used 
these  letters,  which  stood,  as  he  explained,  for  "  One  of 
the  Swinish  Multitude."  President  Adams's  home  be 
ing  at  Braintree,  Mass.,  Duane's  favorite  title  for  him 
was  "  the  Duke  of  Braintree,"  or  sometimes,  "  H;s 
Rotundity,  the  Duke  of  Braintree,"  or  again,  "  His 
Serene  Highness,  the  Duke  of  Braintree."  Jeffer 
son  largely  attributed  his  election  to  the  devotion  of 
the  "  Aurora."  Adams,  the  paper  declared,  was  "  cast 


I3o  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

of  God  as  polluted  water  out  at  the  back  door."  A 
writer  in  its  columns,  in  the  course  of  an  address  to  the 
President,  in  all  seriousness  "  hoped  and  prayed  that 
your  fate  may  be  a  warning  to  all  usurpers  and  tyrants 
and  that  you  may  before  you  leave  this  world  become  a 
true  and  sincere  penitent,  and  be  forgiven  all  your  man 
ifold  sins  in  the  next."  Mr.  Adams  was  said  to  be 
insane,  and  abuse  of  all  kinds  was  heaped  upon  his 
head  by  a  large  group  of  writers  of  whom  Duane  was 
the  most  fiery. 

Upon  the  announcement  in  Philadelphia  of  Jeffer 
son's  election,  the  French  influence  was  again  triumph 
ant.  Bells  were  rung,  volleys  of  musketry  fired,  while 
men  gathered  at  ox-roasts  and  drank  toasts  to  Franklin, 
Rittenhouse  and  the  younger  men  who  followed  in  their 
intellectual  pathway.  Washington  was  shrewdly  for 
given  and  his  sins  were  ascribed  to  the  baleful  influence 
of  Hamilton.  There  were  groans  and  hisses  for  all 
aristocrats  amid  strains  from  the  "Rogue's  March"; 
while  to  such  sentiments  as  "  the  tree  of  liberty,"  "  the 
whole  family  of  mankind"  and  "  the  American  fair: 
may  they  never  smile  upon  any  but  true  Republicans," 
many  a  deep  cup  was  quaffed.  The  bloody  deeds  of 
the  French  Revolution  were  again  glorified.  To  write 
for  such  a  paper  as  the  "  Aurora  "  presupposed  a  knowl 
edge  of  the  political  history  of  every  European  country 
but  England,  out  of  whose  side  we  had  so  lately  sprung, 
since  her  statesmen  to  the  earliest  generations  were  too 
opprobrious  for  their  names  even  to  be  mentioned  in 
the  hearing  of  our  international  democrats. 

On  the  opposite  side,  William  Cobbett  was  an  even 
worse  offender  than  Duane.  He  was  as  libellous  in  his 
support  of  English  monarchy  as  the  "  Aurora  "  was  in 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  131 

the  interest  of  French  liberty.  "  From  these  presses," 
said  Joseph  Hopkinson,  counsel  for  Dr.  Rush  in  the 
famous  libel  suit  against  Cobbett,  "  there  incessantly 
issues  a  pestilential  deadly  vapor  of  the  most  low  and 
vile  defamation."  It  is  very  clear  that  Cobbett,  by  the 
excesses  of  his  statement,  did  the  Federalists  a  vast  deal 
of  injury,  and  in  a  different  way  helped  forward  the 
triumph  of  Jefferson's  party  quite  as  certainly  as 
Duane. 

Cobbett  was  born  in  1762  in  Surrey,  England,  and 
until  he  was  of  age  worked  in  his  father's  fields.  Writ 
ing  of  his  own  grandfather  as  compared  with  the 
grandsire  of  his  rival  in  libels,  Benjamin  Franklin 
Bache,  Cobbett  remarked  upon  one  occasion  in  his  char 
acteristic  way : 

"  Everyone  will,  I  hope,  have  the  goodness  to  be 
lieve  that  my  grandfather  was  no  philosopher.  Indeed 
he  was  not.  He  never  made  a  lightning  rod  nor  bot 
tled  a  single  quart  of  sunshine  in  the  whole  course  of 
his  life.  He  was  no  almanac  maker,  nor  quack,  nor 
chimney  doctor,  nor  soap  boiler,  nor  ambassador,  nor 
printer's  devil;  neither  was  he  a  Deist  and  all  his  chil 
dren  were  born  in  wedlock.  The  legacies  he  left  were 
his  scythe,  his  reaphook  and  his  flail;  he  bequeathed  no 
old  and  irrevocable  debts  to  an  hospital;  he  never 
cheated  the  poor  during  his  life  nor  mocked  them  in 
his  death." 

At  man's  estate,  Cobbett  went  to  London  and  after 
chafing  for  a  time  at  clerkly  duties  he  enlisted  in  the 
English  army,  soon  to  be  sent  to  Nova  Scotia  and  New 
Brunswick,  where  he  served  for  eight  years  or  until  the 
end  of  1791.  Upon  his  return  to  Europe,  he  spent  a 
few  months  in  France,  where  the  Revolution  impended 


132  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

ominously,  and  then  sailed  for  the  United  States,  to 
begin  in  Philadelphia  a  career  of  astonishing  activity 
under  the  pen  name  of  "  Peter  Porcupine."  In  his 
"  Gazette,"  and  in  pamphlets  innumerable,  he  assailed 
the  French  Revolutionists  and  their  American  sympa 
thizers  with  a  savagery  never  equalled  by  any  other 
writer  in  the  new  world.  By  his  indiscriminate  abuse 
he  ran  afoul  of  many  men,  including  Mathew  Carey, 
the  bookseller  and  publisher,  and  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush. 
There  was  published  in  1799  "A  Plumb  Pudding  for 
the  Humane,  Chaste,  Valiant,  Enlightened  Peter  Por 
cupine  by  his  obliged  friend  Mathew  Carey."  While 
not  seriously  hurt  by  Cobbett's  allusions  to  him,  Carey 
made  a  great  ado  about  a  small  episode.  The  Irish 
bookseller  called  Porcupine  "  a  fiend,"  "  a  low-bred 
cowardly  alien,"  "  a  disgrace  to  human  nature,"  etc. 
"  No  small  sword  for  me,"  said  Carey;  "  I  shall  give 
brickbat  for  brickbat  to  Cobbett  and  every  such  scoun 
drel  as  may  drive  me  into  the  field." 

"  I  can  safely  declare  and  appeal  to  Heaven  for  the 
truth  of  the  assertion,"  he  continued,  "  that  of  all  the 
villains  that  ever  possessed  a  printing  press  I  never 
knew  or  ever  heard  of  more  than  one  or  two  that  could 
in  any  degree  be  compared  to  him."  Carey  promised 
to  forfeit  five  hundred  dollars  if  he  did  not  cause  his 
"  Plumb  Pudding  "  to  be  read  "  in  every  city,  town, 
village  and  hamlet  in  the  United  States  to  which  there 
is  a  conveyance  by  stage,  by  mail,  by  wagon  or  by 


cart." 


Dr.  Rush,  not  relying  on  stage  and  cart,  entered  suit, 
as  has  been  indicated,  to  test  the  right  of  citizens,  under 
the  libel  laws  of  Pennsylvania,  to  protection  against 
Porcupine's  attacks.  This  was  in  1797  although  the 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  133 

case  did  not  come  to  trial  until  1799.  Porcupine  had 
attacked  Rush  for  purging  and  bleeding  for  yellow 
fever.  He  called  the  great  physician  "  our  remorse 
less  bleeder."  "  The  Israelite  slew  his  thousands,  but 
the  Rushites  have  slain  their  tens  of  thousands,"  Cob- 
bett  wrote  brutally  in  his  "  Gazette."  The  jury  gave 
Rush  five  thousand  dollars'  damages  and  there  were 
accumulated  costs  amounting  to  about  three  thousand 
dollars,  so  that  Porcupine  was  obliged  to  wind  up  his 
career  in  America.  He  went  back  to  England,  pub 
lishing  his  works  in  London  and  editing  newspapers 
with  considerable  pecuniary  profit.  The  agents  of  the 
law  still  pursued  him.  Once  he  spent  two  years  in  an 
English  gaol,  and  to  escape  another  sentence,  he  took 
flight  to  America  to  reside  for  a  year  or  two  on  Long 
Island.  In  later  life  his  literary  work  was  more  free 
from  abuse  and  he  achieved  a  reputation  as  one  of  the 
foremost  English  satirists, —  by  some  placed  beside 
Swift  and  "Junius." 

Whatever  be  thought  of  the  city's  imported  news 
paper  editors,  the  growing  reputation  of  America  as  an 
asylum  for  the  downtrodden  and  oppressed  of  Europe 
brought  to  Philadelphia  a  number  of  men  of  distinct 
intellectual  value;  among  them,  Mathew  Carey,  Alex 
ander  Wilson,  Peter  S.  Duponceau,  John  Bouvier,  Jo 
seph  Priestley  and  Du  Pont  de  Nemours,  all  of  whom, 
as  might  be  expected,  were  anti-English  radicals. 

Philadelphia  had  been  sending  several  of  its  distin 
guished  sons  abroad;  it  was  but  fair  that  there  should 
be  some  return.  Benjamin  West,  of  Chester  County, 
was  already  a  great  painter  in  London.  Lindley  Mur 
ray,  born  near  Lancaster  —  like  West,  of  Pennsylvania 
Quaker  stock  —  had  been  a  student  in  the  College  of 


134  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Philadelphia.  He  followed  his  father  to  New  York, 
where  he  became  a  successful  merchant.  In  1784  he 
made  a  trip  to  England  for  his  health,  and  remained 
there  to  achieve  eminence  as  a  grammarian.  For 
twenty  years  Robert  Fulton,  born  of  Irish  parents  in 
Lancaster  County,  had  been  attracting  attention  in 
England  and  France.  Apprenticed  for  a  time  to  a 
jeweler  in  Philadelphia,  he  soon  became  an  artist,  later 
giving  his  attention  to  mechanics  and  engineering.  He 
went  to  London  in  1786,  where  he  became  a  member 
of  Benjamin  West's  family.  In  Paris  Fulton  lived  for 
seven  years  with  Joel  Barlow,  invested  five  thousand 
dollars  in  "  The  Columbiad,"  in  return  for  which  the 
work  was  affectionately  dedicated  to  him,  experimented 
with  torpedoes,  and  navigated  steamboats  on  the  Seine. 
The  list  of  men  of  eminence  whom  we  secured  in 
exchange  properly  opens  with  Mathew  Carey.  Al 
though  he  had  many  of  the  faults  of  temperament  of 
the  writers,  journalists  and  pamphleteers  who  came  here 
at  this  time,  he  developed  a  substantial  Americanism 
that  carried  him  very  well  out  of  the  class  in  which 
his  life  was  begun  in  this  country.  He  was  born  in 
1760  in  Dublin,  where  his  father  was  a  baker.  Through 
a  nurse's  carelessness,  he  met  with  an  accident  which 
left  him  lame  for  life.  He  chose  the  trade  of  a 
printer  and  early  wrote  and  published  inflammatory 
political  pamphlets  which  caused  him  to  flee  to  Paris. 
There  he  worked  for  a  time  in  Franklin's  little  print 
ing  shop  in  Passy,  but  in  about  a  year  returned  to  Dub 
lin,  where  he  conducted  a  newspaper.  He  denounced 
England  with  ardor,  and  the  government  offered  a  re 
ward  for  his  arrest.  He  was  imprisoned  for  a  season, 
but,  getting  free,  he  donned  female  dress  to  board  a 


THE 


COLUMBIAD 


A  POEM. 


BY  JOEL  BARLOW. 


Tu  spiegherai,  Colombo,  a  un  novo  poTo 
Lontane  si  le  fortunate  antenne» 
Ch'a  pena  seguira*  con  gli  occhi  il  volo 
La  Kama,  cl>*  ha*  mille  occhi  e  mllle  pennfc. 
Canti  ella  Alcide,  e  Bacco;  e  di  te  solo 
Basti  a  i  poster!  tuoi,  ch'  alquanto  accenne: 
Chd  quel  poco  clara*  hmga  meiiioria 
Dl  po6ma  degntssima*  e.  d'istorfa. 

GIERUS.  LIB.  Can.  xv. 


PTU35TED  BY  FRY  A<fCD 

TOR  C.  ASD  A.  COKRAD  AND  CO.  PHILADELPHIA;  COXHAD,  LUCAS  AND  CO.  BALTIMORE. 

PHILADELPHIA: 
1807. 


TITLE  PAGE  OF  JOEL  BARLOW'S  "  COLUMBIAD 


136  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

ship  for  America  in  September,  1784,  hiding  himself 
among  the  cargo  until  she  was  well  out  at  sea.  Land 
ing  in  Philadelphia,  Lafayette,  learning  of  his  need, 
sent  him  four  hundred  dollars  in  one  dollar  notes  of 
the  Bank  of  North  America,  a  debt  afterward  repaid  by 
a  shipment  to  France  of  two  hogsheads  of  tobacco,  and 
in  1824,  when  the  Marquis  came  to  the  United  States 
in  straitened  circumstances,  it  was  discharged  again,  this 
time  in  cash  and  dollar  for  dollar. 

Here    the    Anti-constitutionalists    of    Pennsylvania, 
who  soon  became  Federalists,  regarded  Carey  as  but 

v  one  more  "  foreign  renegado."  He  helped  to  form  a 
society,  "  The  Newly  Adopted  Sons  of  Pennsylvania," 
and  at  once  took  an  active  part  in  politics  on  the  demo 
cratic  side.  Having  established  a  newspaper,  the 
"  Pennsylvania  Herald,"  Carey  became  involved  in 
a  political  altercation  with  Colonel  Eleazer  Oswald, 
another  Philadelphia  editor.  The  grossest  insults 
were  passed  in  print.  Carey  wrote  "  that  the  literary 
assassin  who  basely  attempts  to  blast  a  character  is  a 
villain  whether  he  struts  in  glare  of  day,  a  ferocious 
Colonel  Oswald  with  a  drawcausir  countenance,  or 
skulks  a  Junius  concealed  for  a  quarter  of  a  century/' 
Soon  they  were  facing  each  other  at  ten  paces  on 
a  duelling-ground  in  New  Jersey,  in  spite  of  Carey's 
crippled  leg.  While  Oswald  had  been  through  the 
Revolutionary  War,  the  young  Irishman  had  never 
drawn  a  pistol  in  his  life.  Carey  was  shot  in  the  thigh 
above  the  knee  and  he  was  a  subject  for  a  surgeon,  suf 
fering  from  the  wound  for  upwards  of  fifteen  months. 
After  two  months'  experience  as  one  of  a  little  group 
of  Philadelphians  who  had  projected  and  were  publish- 

•      ing  the  "  Columbian  Magazine,"  which  led  a  checkered 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  137 

career  for  six  years  under  various  owners  and  editors 
until  1792,  when  it  was  compelled  to  suspend  because 
of  the  government's  refusal  longer  to  convey  it  in  the 
mails,  Carey  withdrew  to  found  the  "  American  Mu 
seum."  It  lived  for  six  years,  as  long  as  the  "  Colum 
bian,"  and  was  suspended  for  the  same  reason.  In 
1792  its  editor  "  sang  its  requiem."  The  "  Museum  " 
was  a  well-chosen  collection  of  excerpts  from  news 
papers  and  other  publications,  but  it  enjoyed  little  finan 
cial  favor,  although  Washington  said  of  it  that  "  a 
more  useful  literary  plan  has  never  been  undertaken  in 
America,  or  one  more  deserving  of  public  encourage 
ment." 

Carey's  struggles  with  money-lenders,  usurers,  en 
dorsers  of  notes,  and  those  for  whom  he  must  endorse 
in  return,  continued  for  years  and  would  have  resulted 
in  the  ruin  of  a  less  determined  spirit.  His  publishing 
and  bookselling  business  at  length  attained  important 
proportions  and  he  was  in  possession  of  an  assured  for 
tune.  He  actively  identified  himself  with  Bible  making 
and  added  to  the  city's  reputation,  so  early  established, 
in  this  trade.  He  printed  some  of  the  earliest  quarto 
editions  of  the  Bible  and  in  1804  entered  into  corre 
spondence  with  an  Englishman  in  the  hope  of  introduc 
ing  to  America  the  stereotyping  process  lately  invented 
by  Didot.  As  the  terms  were  unfavorable  and  it  was 
too  expensive  to  set  and  reset  so  great  a  work  for  every 
new  edition,  Mr.  Carey  resolved  upon  another  course 
—  to  keep  the  separate  types  standing.  His  "  stand 
ing  Bible"  was  long  famous  among  printers;  over 
200,000  impressions  were  made  before  1825,  while 
some  of  the  chases  remained  to  tell  the  story  of  the 
enterprise  till  1844,  when  they  were  broken  up. 


i38  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Never  possessed  of  a  flexible  or  entertaining  style, 
Mathew  Carey  was  an  indefatigable  writer  of  tracts 
and  pamphlets,  especially  in  his  later  life  when  he  had 
become  interested  in  what  he  was  wont  to  call  u  the  pro 
tecting  system."  Having  read  Adam  Smith,  he  was 
impressed  with  the  "  monstrous  absurdity  "  of  the  great 
English  economist's  doctrines,  entering  the  lists,  as  he 
explained,  "  against  this  Goliath  with  the  sling  and  stone 
of  truth."  Again  and  again  did  he  complain  that  he 
got  no  aid  from  the  American  manufacturers,  while  he 
"  converted  whole  sections  of  the  country  to  protec 
tion  "  by  his  single-handed  efforts  and  at  his  own  ex 
pense.  Many  of  his  writings  were  published  by  the 
"  Philadelphia  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  National 
Industry,"  which  he  had  formed  and  supported  from 
his  private  purse.  His  spirit  here,  as  earlier,  was  stub 
born  and  his  zeal  untiring.  In  his  autobiography  in 
the  "  New  England  Magazine  "  in  1834  he  wrote:  "  I 
believed  and  still  believe  that  I  was  not  only  laboring 
for  the  present  and  future  generations  of  the  United 
States,  but  for  the  operatives  of  Europe  —  as,  if  our 
manufactories  were  adequately  protected  thousands  of 
those  people  would  remove  to  this  country  and  be  in  a 
far  better  situation  than  at  home."  In  1832  he  offered 
to  contribute  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  a  year  for 
the  establishment  of  a  professorship  of  political  econ 
omy  at  the  University  of  Maryland,  to  combat,  as  he 
explained  to  Daniel  Raymond,  whom  he  wished  to  oc 
cupy  the  chair,  the  "pestiferous  doctrines"  which  had 
made  America  "  a  colony  to  the  manufacturing  nations 
of  the  old  world." 

From  this  inflexible  man  came  publishing  houses  that 
long  held  leading  places  in  the  country.  The  old 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  139 

Mathew  Carey  firm  is  the  ancestor  of  two  Philadelphia 
publishing  houses  of  this  day,  Lea  Brothers  and  Com 
pany  and  Henry  Carey  Baird  and  Company.  From 
Mathew  Carey  have  also  come  two  American  writers 
of  much  eminence:  a  son,  Henry  C.  Carey,  the  econo 
mist;  and  a  grandson  (through  a  daughter  who  married 
Isaac  Lea,  the  naturalist),  Henry  Charles  Lea,  the 
historian. 

Alexander  Wilson,  the  ornithologist,  came  here  from 
Scotland.  He  was  born  in  Paisley  in  1766.  His 
father,  an  illiterate  man,  followed  the  distilling  busi 
ness.  At  ten  the  boy  had  a  step-mother,  and  few  ad 
vantages  of  any  kind  were  at  his  hand.  His  school 
ing  was  meagre  and  when  thirteen  years  old  he  was 
apprenticed  to  a  weaver.  For  several  years  he  tended 
a  loom  in  his  native  place,  finding  diversion  in  rambles 
with  nature  and  verse-writing.  His  love  of  out-door 
life  induced  him  to  become  a  peddler.  His  verse  ac 
cumulated  until  he  had  enough  in  1790  for  a  little  vol 
ume  which  he  published,  attempting  the  sale  of  it  as 
he  traveled  the  moors,  in  connection  with  his  other 
wares.  Some  of  his  work  was  attributed  to  Burns,  but 
it  had  no  real  value  and  in  later  years  he  wished  it  had 
never  been  written,  relating  in  apology  that  it  was  flung 
off  at  an  age  which  was  "  more  abundant  in  sail  than 
ballast." 

For  lampooning  a  rich  manufacturer  who  was  hated 
by  his  employees,  Wilson  was  arrested  and  impris 
oned  for  a  short  time.  The  outlook  for  his  future 
was  so  unfavorable  that  with  his  nephew  he  crossed 
to  Ireland  and  took  passage  for  New  Castle,  Del.,  as 
a  deck  passenger  on  a  crowded  ship.  With  only  a  few 
shillings  in  his  pocket  and  a  gun  as  his  sole  article  of 


I4o  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

baggage  he  walked  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  arrived 
in  the  summer  of  1794. 

For  a  while  he  followed  his  trade  as  a  weaver  and 
then  took  up  his  pack  for  a  peddling  tour  in  New  Jer 
sey,  at  length  becoming  a  teacher  in  schools  north  of 
Frankford;  at  Milestown,  on  the  Old  York  Road;  and 
at  Kingsessing,  near  Gray's  Ferry  on  the  Schuylkill, 
where  he  met  William  Bartram,  the  only  one  of  John 
Bartram's  sons  who  followed  in  the  father's  footsteps 
as  a  scientist.  Meantime  in  school  Wilson  had  been 
improving  his  mind,  especially  in  mathematics,  while 
he  wrote  verses,  played  the  flute  and  got  himself  into 
a  state  of  almost  hopeless  gloom  through  a  love  affair, 
when  his  penury  galled  him  more  than  ever  before. 
His  friends  recommended  him  to  take  up  drawing,  in 
which  he  had  no  great  success  until  he  began  to  choose 
birds  for  his  studies.  Bartram  on  his  rambles  had 
studied  ornithology  as  well  as  botany  and  in  his  "  little 
Paradise,"  as  Wilson  called  the  Gray's  Ferry  gardens, 
the  young  Scotch  weaver,  peddler,  poet  and  school 
master  was  always  a  welcome  guest.  In  October, 
1804,  with  two  companions,  he  started  for  Niagara 
Falls,  an  expedition  which  he  describes  in  his  poem, 
"  The  Foresters."  He  walked  nearly  thirteen  hundred 
miles.  The  trip  had  been  postponed  too  long  and  the 
return  was  made  through  the  deep  snow,  but  it  con 
firmed  Wilson  in  his  design  to  picture  and  describe  the 
birds  of  North  America. 

He  laid  his  plans  before  the  Bradfords  and  in 
duced  that  printing  house  to  make  itself  pecuniarily 
liable  for  his  great  undertaking.  There  were  to  be 
several  quarto  volumes  with  colored  plates  from  Wil 
son's  own  hand,  or  by  assistants  working  under  his  im- 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  141 

mediate  direction.  His  plans  called  for  long  journeys 
through  the  swamps,  forests  and  fields  of  the  West  and 
South.  Wherever  he  went  he  carried  with  him  the  pros 
pectus  of  his  work  and  sought  subscriptions  from  the 
people.  He  had  hoped  to  be  appointed  to  go  upon  the 
Lewis  and  Clark  expedition  by  Jefferson,  of  whom  he 
was  an  extravagant  political  admirer.  On  March  4, 
1805,  at  the  dawn  of  Jefferson's  second  term,  Wilson 
wrote  to  William  Bartram :  "  This  day  the  heart  of 
every  republican,  of  every  good  man  within  the  im 
mense  limits  of  our  happy  country,  will  leap  with  joy. 
The  enlightened  philosopher,  the  distinguished  natural 
ist,  the  first  statesman  on  earth,  the  friend,  the  orna 
ment  of  science  is  the  father  of  our  country,  is  the  faith 
ful  guardian  of  our  liberties. "  Such  enthusiasm  should 
have  met  its  reward,  especially  as  Jefferson  was  ac 
counted  one  of  the  country's  principal  authorities  on 
American  birds  before  Wilson  turned  his  attention  to 
the  subject;  but  it  did  not,  and  the  ornithologist  was  left 
to  arrange  his  own  itinerary  on  foot,  on  horseback,  in 
stage  coach,  in  skiffs  on  dangerous  rivers,  and  some 
times  on  cart-tails  through  all  the  inhabited  and  many 
of  the  uninhabited  parts  of  America. 

The  price  of  a  set  of  the  books  was  one  hundred  and 
twenty  dollars,  a  very  large  sum  for  the  times,  which  as 
Wilson  said  so  often  rose  "  like  an  evil  genius  between 
me  and  my  hopes."  While  in  New  England  he  wrote 
of  his  book  to  a  friend  in  Philadelphia,  saying  that  he 
was  "  travelling  with  it  like  a  beggar  with  his  bantling 
from  town  to  town  and  from  one  country  to  another. 
I  have  been  loaded  with  praises,"  said  he,  "  with  com 
pliments  and  kindnesses,  shaken  almost  to  pieces  in 
stage  coaches;  have  wandered  among  strangers  hearing 


I42  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

the  same  O's  and  Ah's  and  telling  the  same  story  a 
thousand  times  over,  and  for  what?  Ay,  that's  it. 
You  are  very  anxious  to  know  and  you  shall  know  the 
whole  when  I  reach  Philadelphia.'* 

The  net  result  of  this  trip  seems  to  have  been  forty- 
one  subscriptions.  In  Baltimore  he  secured  sixteen 
after  a  week's  work.  He  made  an  effort  to  obtain  a 
subscription  from  the  legislature  of  the  state  but  "  the 
wise  men  of  Maryland  stared  and  gaped  from  bench  to 
bench.  Having  never  heard  of  such  a  thing  as  one 
hundred  and  twenty  dollars  for  a  book,  the  ayes  for 
subscribing  were  none,"  says  Wilson,  "  and  so  it  was 
unanimously  determined  in  the  negative."  Seventeen 
subscriptions  were  taken  in  Washington.  His  friend, 
companion  on  many  of  his  journeys,  and  biographer, 
George  Ord,  complained  bitterly  of  Philadelphia's  scant 
appreciation  of  the  great  naturalist  in  its  midst,  since 
up  to  the  time  of  his  death  only  seventy  citizens  had 
subscribed,  while  in  New  Orleans  sixty  names  were  se 
cured  in  seventeen  days.  The  first  volume  of  the  work 
made  its  appearance  in  September,  1808,  and  by 
March,  1809,  there  were  still  only  250  subscribers  in 
all. 

Wilson  knew  no  discouragement.  He  had  nearly 
completed  his  eighth  volume,  when  in  1813  after  his 
return  from  a  trip  to  Great  Egg  Harbor,  N.  J.,  whither 
he  had  gone  to  study  water  birds,  his  career  suddenly 
ended.  Plunging  into  a  stream  to  recover  a  specimen 
he  had  shot,  a  cold  ensued,  and  the  enthusiasm  of  this 
great  self-taught  naturalist  cost  him  his  life.  He  was 
buried  in  Old  Swedes'  Church-yard  in  Southwark  and 
these  lines  mark  his  grave: 

"  This  monument  covers  the  remains  of  Alexander 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  143 

Wilson,  author  of  the  American  Ornithology.  He  was 
born  in  Renfrewshire,  Scotland,  on  the  6th  of  July, 
1766,  emigrated  to  the  United  States  in  the  year  1794 
and  died  in  Philadelphia  of  the  dysentery  on  the  23d 
of  August,  1813,  aged  47." 

Wilson  had  known  practically  nothing  of  his  science 
until  he  was  forty.  In  seven  years,  therefore,  he  had 
made  himself  the  father  of  American  ornithology,  and 
did  for  the  birds  of  the  United  States  what  all  the 
naturalists  of  Europe  in  a  century  had  not  done  for 
theirs. 

Wilson  walked  very  rapidly  and  few  could  keep  up 
with  him  until  he  met  a  bird  when  he  was  all  eyes  and 
ears,  studying  its  notes  and  movements  most  carefully. 
His  descriptions  are  strongly  marked  by  the  fancy  of 
his  poetic  mind.  Science  to  him  was  no  dull  thing  of 
mathematical  measurements,  although  accuracy  was 
never  sacrificed  to  imagery.  He  introduces  a  very 
vivid  account  of  the  barn  swallow  with  these  agreeable 
lines: 

"  There  are  but  few  persons  in  the  United  States 
unacquainted  with  this  gay,  innocent  and  active  little 
bird.  Indeed  the  whole  tribe  are  so  distinguished  from 
the  rest  of  small  birds  by  their  sweeping  rapidity  of 
flight,  their  peculiar  aerial  evolutions  of  wing  over  our 
fields  and  rivers  and  through  our  very  streets  from 
morning  to  night,  that  the  light  of  heaven  itself,  the 
sky,  the  trees,  or  any  other  common  objects  of  nature, 
are  not  better  known  than  the  swallows.  We  welcome 
their  first  appearance  with  delight,  as  the  faithful  har 
bingers  and  companions  of  flowery  spring  and  ruddy 
summer;  and  when  after  a  long  frost-bound  and  bois 
terous  winter  we  hear  it  announced  that  the  *  swallows 


I44  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

are  come,'  what  a  train  of  charming  ideas  are  associated 
with  the  simple  tidings!  " 

Of  the  bald  eagle,  "  the  adopted  emblem  of  our 
country,"  Wilson  wrote,  explaining  the  wide  disper 
sion  of  the  bird: 

"  Formed  by  nature  for  braving  the  severest  cold; 
feeding  equally  on  the  produce  of  the  sea  and  of  the 
land;  possessing  powers  of  flight  capable  of  outstrip 
ping  even  the  tempests  themselves;  unawed  by  any 
thing  but  man;  and  from  the  ethereal  heights  to  which 
he  soars  looking  abroad  at  one  glance  on  an  immeas 
urable  expanse  of  forests,  fields,  lakes  and  ocean  deep 
below  him,  he  appears  indifferent  to  the  little  localities 
of  change  of  seasons,  as  in  a  few  minutes  he  can  pass 
from  summer  to  winter,  from  the  lower  to  the  higher 
regions  of  the  atmosphere,  the  abode  of  eternal  cold; 
and  thence  descend  at  will  to  the  torrid  or  arctic  regions 
of  the  earth.  He  is  therefore  found  at  all  seasons  in 
the  countries  which  he  inhabits.  .  .  .  Elevated 
upon  a  high  dead  limb  of  some  gigantic  tree,  that  com 
mands  a  wide  view  of  the  neighboring  shore  and  ocean, 
he  seems  calmly  to  contemplate  the  motions  of  the 
various  feathered  tribes  that  pursue  their  busy  avoca 
tions  below:  the  snowy  white  gulls  slowly  winnowing 
the  air;  the  busy  Fringae  coursing  along  the  sands; 
trains  of  ducks  streaming  over  the  surface;  silent  and 
watchful  cranes  intent  and  wading;  clamorous  crows 
and  all  the  winged  multitudes  that  subsist  by  the  bounty 
of  this  vast  magazine  of  nature." 

Peter  S.  Duponceau  was  born  in  France  and  studied 
to  be  a  priest.  He  could  ill  bear  the  restraints  of  such 
a  training  and  went  to  Paris  where  fate  threw  him  with 
Baron  Steuben  who  was  coming  to  the  United  States 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  145 

to  train  the  Continental  troops.  From  1777  to  1779 
he  was  with  the  army  as  the  Baron's  secretary.  In 
1781  he  became  a  citizen  of  Pennsylvania  and  after 
a  time  studied  law.  He  defended  the  Constitution  of 
Pennsylvania  of  1776,  opposed  the  adoption  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  of  1787,  and  wore  the  liberty  cap 
when  Genet  invaded  Philadelphia.  He  had  wide  re 
pute  as  a  diner-out  and  wit.  For  a  number  of  years 
he  was  President  of  the  Philosophical  Society. 

His  literary  fame  rests  upon  several  treatises  on  phi 
lology,  a  department  of  learning  in  which  Philadelphia 
had  never  yet  won  distinction.  Noah  Webster  had 
been  in  the  city  for  a  short  time  in  charge  of  the  Epis 
copal  Academy,  and  Lindley  Murray  had  gone  hence 
to  England  but  there  the  record  came  to  an  end.  Du- 
ponceau  made  a  careful  study  of  the  Chinese  language 
and  of  some  of  the  Indian  tongues. 

John  Bouvier  came  to  Philadelphia  in  August,  1802, 
when  he  was  fifteen  years  old,  with  his  father,  mother 
and  brother,  the  whole  family  having  emigrated  from 
the  south  of  France  where  they  were  zealous  repub 
licans.  They  did  not  understand  the  English  language 
and  had  no  friends  in  the  city,  but,  landing  on  a  Sun 
day  at  the  Spruce  Street  wharf,  as  they  were  Quakers 
in  France,  they  at  once  directed  their  steps  to  the  meet 
ing-house  at  Second  and  Market  Streets.  There,  when 
the  meeting  broke,  they  were  the  centre  of  an  inter 
ested  group.  Strangely  dressed,  the  mother  in  a  large 
white  muslin  cap  and  garments  that  are  still  worn  by 
the  peasant  women  of  France,  wealthy  Quakers  offered 
them  many  kindnesses.  The  yellow  fever  was  at  that 
time  again  virulent.  The  father  died  of  it  the  next 
year  in  Frankford,  where  he  had  found  employ- 


y 


I46  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

ment,  and  young  John  became  the  pillar  of  the  fam 
ily.  He  learned  the  printing  business,  and  in  1814 
removed  to  western  Pennsylvania  where  he  published 
a  newspaper.  Later  he  studied  law  and  in  1823  re 
turned  to  Philadelphia,  which  was  his  home  until  his 
death  in  1851.  He  was  the  author  of  a  well-known 
law  dictionary,  the  "  Institutes  of  American  Law  "  in 
four  volumes,  and  other  works  demanding  much  labor 
and  learning,  which  he  found  time  to  complete  in  con 
nection  with  an  important  practice  at  the  Philadelphia 
bar. 

Dr.  Joseph  Priestley,  the  discoverer  of  oxygen,  was 
an  English  liberal  in  religion  as  well  as  in  politics  who 
lived  in  Birmingham.  A  mob  burned  the  Unitarian 
meeting-house  in  which  he  preached  and  his  home,  con 
taining  all  his  manuscripts  and  scientific  instruments, 
while  with  a  group  of  friends  he  was  attempting  to 
celebrate  the  fourteenth  of  July  and  show  his  sympathy 
for  French  aspirations  for  liberty.  The  town  after 
ward  indemnified  him  for  the  loss  he  had  suffered,  but 
in  the  meantime  he  had  decided  to  remain  in  England 
no  longer.  He  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1794.  Here 
the  French  party  regarded  him  as  a  political  martyr 
and  sought  to  have  him  meet  President  Washington 
who  declined  the  honor  of  his  acquaintance.  No  pul 
pits  were  offered  him  by  Philadelphia's  orthodox  cler 
gymen,  although  he  was  warmly  welcomed  by  the 
Philosophical  Society  and  was  tendered  a  professorship 
of  chemistry  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  This 
post  he  did  not  accept  and  soon  passed  on  to  the  banks 
of  the  Susquehanna.  There  at  Northumberland,  Pa., 
whither  his  sons  had  preceded  him,  he  lived  and  died 
and  was  buried. 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  147 

Pierre  Samuel  Du  Pont  de  Nemours  had  as  pictur 
esque  a  career  as  any  foreigner  who  came  to  Philadel 
phia  on  the  tide  of  liberal  emigration.  He  was  asso 
ciated  with  old  Dr.  Quesnay,  the  elder  Mirabeau,  and 
the  "  Economistes,"  a  little  sect  in  Paris  which  con 
structed  imaginary  wealth  from  imaginary  land  accord 
ing  to  a  system  which  they  called  the  "  Physiocratie." 
Franklin  seemed  to  endorse  their  peculiar  views  and 
became  the  friend  of  the  leading  members  of  the  so 
ciety.  Du  Pont  wrote  much  upon  economic  subjects 
and  edited  the  organ  of  the  sect.  He  held  offices  un 
der  some  French  ministries  while  he  was  banished  from 
his  home  by  others.  During  the  Revolution  he  nar 
rowly  escaped  with  his  life,  both  from  mobs  on  the  one 
hand  and  guillotiners  on  the  other,  and  in  1799  made 
his  way  to  the  United  States  with  his  sons  who  founded 
the  large  powder  manufactories  near  Wilmington,  Del. 
There  the  old  French  "  Economists  "  died  in  1817. 

But  the  Revolution  and  its  differences  were  ceasing 
to  dominate  the  public  mind.  Science  was  disentan-  . 
gling  itself  from  political  philosophy.  Alexander  Wil 
son  wrote  to  his  nephew  in  1806,  when  invited  to  make 
a  political  address  at  Milestown:  "  Politics  has  begot 
me  so  many  enemies  both  in  the  old  and  new  world 
and  has  done  me  so  little  good  that  I  begin  to  think 
the  less  you  and  I  harangue  on  that  subject  the  better." 
He  said  that  hereafter  he  would  deliver  his  speeches  in 
the  wood  where  he  could  "  offend  nobody."  Some 
slight  belletristic  performances  were  pointing  the  way 
to  that  famous  Philadelphia  magazine,  the  "  Port 
Folio,"  and  to  the  founder  of  the  novel  in  America, 
Charles  Brockden  Brown.  The  age  wore  a  healthier 
aspect.  There  were  omens  of  better  things  to  follow, 


i48  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

when  Irish,  Scotch  and  French  would  come  into  some 
degree  of  harmony  with  the  Englishmen  already  set 
tled  here,  to  their  great  mutual  benefit,  and  to  the  honor 
of  the  city  and  of  America. 

The  first  historian  of  Pennsylvania  was  Robert 
Proud.  For  the  Revolutionary  period  there  are  a  num 
ber  of  diarists  such  as  Christopher  Marshall,  a  retired 
druggist  of  leisure  and  means  sufficient  in  a  busy  time 
to  enable  him  to  write  an  interesting  record  of  the 
movements  about  him;  and  Alexander  Graydon,  whose 
mother  kept  boarders  in  the  famous  Slate  Roof  House 
in  Second  Street  to  which  many  notable  people  came 
for  creature  comforts  while  he  gleaned  impressions  of 
them  for  his  "  Memoirs."  Proud's  studies  did  not 
carry  him  through  the  war  and  his  work  was  completed 
before  the  colonists  had  yet  established  their  independ 
ence,  although  it  was  not  until  1798  that  it  could  be 
published.  It  came  from  Zachariah  Poulson's  press 
in  two  volumes. 

Considering  the  preparations  which  were  made  for 
the  undertaking,  the  materials  at  his  hand  and  the  time 
consumed,  the  work  was  voted  a  disappointment. 
Proud,  who  was  "  a  large  majestic  English  gentleman," 
wearing  a  great  gray  wig  and  a  hat,  half-sprung,  said 
that  the  wind  always  blew  in  his  face.  He  was  alike 
unfortunate  in  business  and  in  love,  and  joining  the 
Quakers,  reached  Pennsylvania  in  1759.  For  thirty 
years  he  taught  Latin  and  Greek  in  a  Friend's  school, 
and  on  account  of  his  learning,  was  appointed  to  write 
a  history  of  Pennsylvania,  being  given  access  to  all  the 
Quaker  records,  public  and  private,  and  the  manuscripts 
of  the  Logan,  Pemberton,  Morris  and  other  leading 
Quaker  families.  Complaint  was  made  that  there  was 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  149 

"  too  much  preface  for  the  contents,"  about  one  third 
of  the  first  volume  being  preface,  while  one  third  of 
the  second  volume  was  appendix.  In  general,  "  much 
more  was  expected  than  ever  came  to  pass." 

Although  literature,  for  its  own  sake,  issued  from  the 
conflict  but  slowly,  publishers  were  bolder,  as  is  evi 
denced  by  a  notable  performance  of  Thomas  Dobson 
who  printed  "  at  the  Stone  House  "  in  Second  Street 
above  Chestnut.  Already  in  1790  he  began  the  first 
American  edition  of  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  gen 
erally  known  as  "  Dobson's  Encyclopaedia."  He  had 
but  246  subscribers  when  the  first  half-volume  was 
ready  for  delivery.  There  were  one  thousand  copies 
of  the  first  volume  and  these  were  not  sold  until  he  had 
reached  the  eighth  volume.  The  work  contained 
nearly  600  copper  plates,  and  it  was  difficult  to  find 
enough  printers  and  engravers  to  finish  it,  but  it  was 
successfully  completed  in  twenty-one  volumes,  including 
a  supplement  of  three  volumes,  in  1803.  The  selling 
price  was  $156  in  boards  and  $187.50  in  sheep. 

In  1795  Bioren  and  Madan  began  to  issue  the 
"  First  American  Edition "  of  Shakespeare  in  eight 
volumes,  and  the  work  was  completed  the  next  year. 
The  "  Plays  and  Poems,"  with  Johnson's  notes,  an  in 
troduction,  a  brief  "  life,"  and  a  glossary,  attracted 
much  attention.  The  publishers,  in  heralding  their 
work,  said:  "  An  edition  of  the  works  of  William 
Shakespeare  is  now  offered  to  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  This  poet  has  always  been  considered  as  the 
father  of  the  English  drama  and  as  beyond  any  com 
parison  the  greatest  theatrical  writer  in  the  English 
language,"  etc.,  etc. 

In  1804  Caleb  P.  Wayne  came  to  Philadelphia  to 


ENCYCLOPEDIA; 
DICTIONARY 

O  F 

ARTS,   SCIENCES, 

AND 

MISCELLANEOUS    LITERATURE; 

Conftrufted  on  a  PLAN, 

BY      WHICH 

THE    DIFFERENT    SCIENCES    AND    ARTS 

Are  digefled  into  the  FORM  of  Diftinft 

TREATISES    OR     SYSTEMS, 

COM  r  II  •  !•  DUO 

THE  HISTORY,  THJEORY,  and  PRACTICE,  of  each, 

According  to  the  Lateft  Difcoveries  and  Improvement!  ; 

AND  rvLL  tXfLANATlONS  CirSIt  Ot  7BI 

VARIOUS  DETACHED  PARTS  OF  KNOWLEDGE, 

WHtTMia    11LAT1KO    TO 

NATURAL  and  ARTIFICIAL  Obje&s,  or  to  Matters  ECCLESIASTICAL, 

CIVIL,  MILITARY,  COMMERCIAL,  I3c. 

Including  CiCCIDATlom  of  the  moA  important  Topiet  relative  to  RtLiciOK,  MoiULi,  MANNZRI, 
and  the  OECONOMT  of  Lira  .• 

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A  General  Hiifoar,  4*t*at  and   Mod*r*,   of  the   different   Empire^  Engdotni,  and  Sotrn 

*  •  » 

cAn  Account  of  the  LITII  of  the  mo  ft  Eminent  Perfoni  in  erery  Nation, 
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TITLE  PAGE  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME  OF  THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  EDITION 
OF  THE  "  ENCYCLOPEDIA  BRITANNICA  " 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  151 

publish  John  Marshall's  "  Life  of  Washington,"  which 
he  did  in  five  volumes,  completing  the  work  in  three 
years.  He  is  said  to  have  paid  $60,000  *  to  the  au 
thor  for  the  rights  to  this  important  biography  which, 
being  written  by  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States, 
at  a  time  when  the  interest  in  Washington  was  deep, 
found  a  wide  sale. 

Bradford's  agreement  to  issue  Wilson's  "  Ornithol 
ogy  "  was  closely  accompanied  by  that  firm's  determi 
nation  to  put  forth  an  American  edition'  of  Abraham 
Rees's  "  Cyclopaedia  or  Universal  Dictionary  "  in  forty- 
seven  large  volumes.  When  Wilson  declined  the  offer 
to  superintend  this  work,  other  editors  were  secured. 
It  was  "  revised,  corrected,  enlarged  and  adapted  to  this 
country  "  by  several  "  literary  and  scientific  characters." 
The  work  began  to  appear  in  1810  and  the  last  volume 
did  not  leave  the  press  until  1824,  the  publishers  en 
countering  many  difficulties  as  they  proceeded  with  it. 
By  1818  they  announced  that  they  had  expended 
$200,000  upon  it,  and  the  undertaking  made  an  end  to 
the  old  house  of  Bradford.  The  firm  failed  and  the 
work  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  syndicate  made  up  of 
several  of  the  engravers  engaged  upon  it,  who,  to  dis 
pose  of  the  edition,  finally  resorted  to  a  lottery  specially 
authorized  by  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania.  It  was 
evident  that  Philadelphia's  publishers  were  resuming 
that  notable  activity  which  was  interrupted  by  the  war 
and  which  again  for  a  full  generation  was  to  make  the 
city  the  literary  market-place  for  the  whole  United 
States. 

The  note  of  poetry  was  as  a  thin  voice.     Alexander 

*  Thompson  Westcott's  History  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  Sunday 
Dispatch. 


THL 

CYCLOPAEDIA; 


ARTS,  SCIENCES,  AND  LITERATURE 

BT 

ABRAHAM  REES,  DJ>.  F.R.S.  F.L.S.    £  jtmer.  Soc. 

WITH  THt  AiiWT*>Cl    Of 

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ILLUSTRATED  WITH  NUMEROUS  ENGRAVINGS, 
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VOL,  L 


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TITLE  PAGE  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME  OF  REES'S  "  CYCLOP.EDIA 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  153 

Wilson's  poems  were  in  prose  form;  his  verse  was 
valueless.  Peter  Markoe,  sometimes  called  "  the  city 
poet,"  the  son  of  Abram  Markoe,  a  West  Indian  sugar 
planter  of  Huguenot  stock  who  once  owned  the  block 
now  occupied  by  the  Post  Office,  was  educated  at  the 
University  of  Dublin.  He  studied  law  in  London  and 
cultivated  the  muse  in  Philadelphia,  publishing  a  trag 
edy  called  "  The  Patriot  Chief "  and  other  poems. 

John  Parke,  another  post-revolutionary  poet,  was  an 
officer  in  Washington's  army,  and  published  some  odd 
translations  and  paraphrases  of  the  "  Lyric  Works  of 
Horace." 

The  poet  of  the  time  who  is  generally  remembered 
is  Joseph  Hopkinson,  the  author  of  "  Hail  Colum 
bia  ;  "  the  real  and  only  true  poet  of  this  period  is 

Hopkinson  was  "a  son  of  Francis  Hopkinson  and  was 
born  in  Philadelphia  in  1770,  graduating  at  the  Uni 
versity  of  Pennsylvania  in  1786.  He  early  became  an 
eminent  lawyer  in  the  city,  and  was  later  appointed  a 
L'nited  States  District  Judge  by  John  Quincy  Adams, 
being  until  his  death  in  1842  a  consistent  friend  of  liter 
ature,  science  and  the  fine  arts.  In  1798  when 
the  war  with  France  impended  and  the  feeling  between 
the  French  and  English  parties  was  at  fever  heat,  Hop 
kinson  was  appealed  to  by  a  young  actor  named  Fox, 
then  playing  at  a  city  theatre,  for  patriotic  words  to 
be  sung  to  the  tune  of  "  The  President's  March,"  at 
that  time  the  favorite  popular  air.  It  had  been 
composed  by  a  German  music  teacher  resident  in  Phila 
delphia,  and  gained  such  popularity  that  the  leaders 
of  bands  must  often  stop  in  the  midst  of  their  classical 
programmes  to  answer  the  demand  for  it.  Hopkin- 


154  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

son,  who  was  a  Federalist,  in  finding  words  for  the  air, 
desired  to  arouse  an  American  spirit  that  would  be  inde 
pendent  of  and  above  all  foreign  attachments  and  sym 
pathies.  He  therefore  mentioned  neither  France  nor 
England.  Beginning  — 

"  Hail  Columbia,  happy  land ! 
Hail  ye  heroes,  heaven-born  band, 
Who  fought  and  bled  in  Freedom's  cause,"  etc. 

his  verses  were  finished  and  delivered  upon  a  few 
hours'  notice.  They  were  instantly  successful  and  were 
sung  and  resung,  the  audience  joining  vociferously  in 
the  chorus: — 

"  Firm,  united  let  us  be, 
Rallying   round  our  Liberty; 
As  a  band  of  brothers  joined, 
Peace  and  safety  we  shall  find." 

Crowds  shouted  the  song  in  the  city  streets,  and  it 
soon  travelled  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  republic, 
although  its  seemingly  harmless  sentiments  did  not  pro 
tect  its  author  from  the  attacks  of  the  French,  who  de 
nounced  it  as  a  contrivance  of  the  "  Anglo-Monarchical 
Tory  party  "  and  "  the  admirers  of  British  tyranny." 
Almost  totally  bare  of  evidence  of  inspiration  or  even 
of  common  skill  in  rhyme-making,  it  is  still  to-day  a 
popular  patriotic  American  air. 

William  Cliffton  was  the  son  of  strict,  well-to-do 
Quaker  parents  who  resided  in  Southwark.  At  nine 
teen  consumption  set  its  seal  upon  him  and,  barred  from 
active  worldly  pursuits,  he  devoted  himself  to  music, 
painting  and  poetry.  His  sensitive  soul  and  very 
active  mind 


r 

•    r 


H 

^.     O 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  155 

"  Fretted  the  pigmy  body  to  decay, 
And  o'er  informed  the  tenement  of  clay,"  P0«l  lV%«k/ 

so  that  in  1799,  at  twenty-seven,  his  promiseful  life, 
like  Nathaniel  Evans's  and  Thomas  Godfrey's,  was 
done. 

A  strong  Federalist,  he  eagerly  supported  Washing 
ton's  administration  against  the  French  party  during 
the  excitement  which  attended  the  negotiation  of  the 
Jay  treaty,  wasting  his  poetical  energies  in  political 
satire  of  no  lasting  value  to  his  fame.  With  some  title 
to  the  name  of  the  American  Dryden,  which  is  at  times 
applied  to  him,  he  was  no  mere  imitator,  never  being 
content  to  express  trite  ideas.  The  genius  of  the  false 
French  philosophy  appeared  as  the  witch  Chimeria  in 
his  poem,  "  The  Chimeriad  " — 

"  her  roving  mind 

Left  meek  content  and  order  far  behind, 
Too  light  to  study  and  too  dull  to  scan 
The  temper,  state  and  faculties  of  man ; 
Full  of  herself,  she  soared  aloft  to  prove 
The  joys  which  float  in  endless  change  above 
And  saw  obedient  to  her  mad  command 
Incongruous  nothings  into  chaos  plann'd. 
She  saw  her  empire  form'd,  and  day  by  day 
Saw  systems  spring  to  light  and  pass  away; 
Saw  idiots  dazzled  with  her  tinsel  zone, 
And  genius  sometimes  sporting  round  her  throne ; 
There  Plato  walk'd  his  academic  round, 
And  there  his  shadowy  prototypes  were  found ; 
His  spectre  cave  he  pompously  display'd, 
Talk'd  of  a  world,  of  endless  essence  made; 
Pour'd  forth  of  eloquence  an  airy  storm, 
And  lick'd  his  cub  republic  into  form." 


156  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

As  a  poetical  denunciation  of  evil  philosophies,  this 
is  excellent.  In  his  epistle  to  William  Gifford,  the 
English  poet,  Mr.  Cliffton  describes  the  severe  intel 
lectual  discipline  by  which  ancient  scholars  were  formed, 
contrasting  it  then  with  the  methods  by  which  genius 
was  in  his  day  so  rapidly  evolved : — 

"  So  the  sage  oak,  to  nature's  mandate  true, 
Advanc'd  but  slow,  and  strengthened  as  it  grew; 
But  when  at  length  (full  many  a  season  o'er) 
Its  virile  head,  in  pride,  aloft  it  bore  ; 
When  steadfast  were  its  roots,  and  sound  its  heart, 
It  bade  defiance  to  the  insect's  art, 
And,  storm  and  time-resisting,  still  remains 
The  never-dying  glory  of  the  plains. 

"  Then,  if  some  thoughtless  Bavius  dared  appear, 
Short  was  his  date,  and  limited  his  sphere ; 
He  could  but  please  the  changeling  mob  a  day, 
Then,  like  his  noxious  labors,  pass  away ; 
So,  near  a  forest  tall,  some  worthless  flower 
Enjoys  the  triumph  of  its  gaudy  hour, 
Scatters  its  little  poison  through  the  skies 
Then  droops  its  empty,  hated  head  and  dies." 

In  his  poem  "  II  Penseroso,"  Cliffton  writes: — 

"  Why  should  I  mingle  in  the  mazy  ring 

Of  drunken  folly  at  the  shrine  of  chance? 
Where  insect  pleasure  flits  on  burnished  wing, 

Eludes  our  wishes  and  keeps  up  the  dance; 
When  in  the  quiet  of  an  humble  home, 

Beside  the  fountain,  or  upon  the  hill, 
Where  strife  and  care  and  sorrow  never  come, 

I  may  be  free  and  happy,  if  I  will." 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  157 

In  reading  such  verse  we  must  regret  with  Verplanck, 
writing  in  the  "  Analectic  Magazine"  in  1814,  and 
"  with  every  one  who  is  anxious  for  the  literary  repu 
tation  of  his  country  "  that  Mr.  Cliffton  did  not  live 
"  to  accomplish  some  greater  and  more  finished  work." 

The  principal  literary  name  of  this  time,  the  city's 
and  the  nation's  reward  for  a  long  period  of  bitter  wait 
ing,  is  Charles  Brockden  Brown.  Sometimes  called  the 
"Father  of  the  American  Novel,"  it  is  certain  that 
none  before  him  in  this  country  had  done  so  well;  none 
produced  fiction  that  the  people  read  so  eagerly  and 
appreciatively.  Mrs.  Susanna  Rowson,  an  English 
woman,  the  author  of  a  sentimental  novel,  "  Charlotte 
Temple,"  and  an  actress  who  played  for  several  years 
at  the  close  of  the  century  at  the  Chestnut  Street  Thea 
tre,  her  husband  being  a  musician  in  the  orchestra, 
while  here  wrote  a  great  four-volume  novel,  "  The 
Trials  of  the  Human  Heart." 

But  Brown  was  a  native  writer  and  his  work  had 
compelling  force.  To  subject  it  to  careful  criticism  is 
to  discover  the  gravest  artistic  defects.  There  is  no 
originality  in  his  method  or  themes;  he  simply  trans 
ferred  action  and  scenes  in  vogue  with  English  novel 
ists,  such  as  William  Godwin,  Mrs.  Radcliffe  and 
"  Monk "  Lewis,  to  the  banks  of  the  Schuylkill  and 
the  Delaware.  Nevertheless,  Brown  was  and  remains 
the  first  writer  of  fiction  to  achieve  eminence  in  this 
country,  and  the  first  writer  of  whatever  kind  who  had 
the  daring  to  make  literature  his  sole  pursuit.  He 
lived  by  his  pen,  a  hurried,  fitful  and  brief  life,  it  is 
true,  but  starve  at  the  end  he  did  not. 

He  came  of  an  old  Chester  County  Quaker  family, 
respectable  but  not  eminent,  having  been  born  in  Phila- 


i58  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

delphia  on  January  17,  1771.  He  was  named  for 
Charles  Brockden,  the  well-known  conveyancer  and 
agent  for  the  Penn  family  in  Philadelphia  who  married 
his  father's  sister.  From  this  writer  is  the  taste  for 
triple  names  among  American  authors  sometimes  de 
rived.  With  him  at  least  the  multiplication  of  cogno 
mens  seemed  to  be  a  necessity,  for  he  clearly  under 
stood  that  the  odds  were  as  unfavorable  to  the  Browns 
as  they  were  to  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes's  hero  whom 
fate  tried  to  conceal  under  the  name  of  Smith.  Once 
when  a  friend  had  done  him  the  honor  of  giving  him  a 
namesake,  Brown  expressed  his  regret  that  the  infant 
was  not  to  have  a  greater  chance  for  the  distinctions 
of  life.  u  It  has  ever  been  an  irksome  and  unwelcome 
sound  to  my  ears,"  said  he.  "  I  have  sometimes  been 
mortified  in  looking  over  the  catalogue  of  heroes,  sages 
and  saints  to  find  not  a  single  Brown  among  them. 
This  indeed  may  be  said  of  many  other  names  but  most 
others  are  of  rare  occurrence.  It  must  then  be  a 
strange  fatality  which  has  hitherto  excluded  it  from 
the  illustrious  and  venerable  list." 

For  about  five  years  Charles  Brockden  Brown  at 
tended  the  Quaker  school  of  Robert  Proud,  the  histo 
rian,  but,  frail  of  build,  confinement  and  application 
jaded  him.  He  was  designed  for  the  law  but  the  pros 
pect  of  that  life  was  repellent.  He  loved  solitude,  es 
pecially  rambles  into  the  country.  The  talk  of  the 
world  about  him  wearied  him  with  its  frivolity.  His 
enthusiasm  was  for  thinking  and  writing,  and  essays, 
verse,  dialogues,  fanciful  sketches  and  a  journal  were 
produced  while  he  was  still  at  school.  He  was  the 
leading  member  of  the  little  Belles  Lettres  Club  of  nine 
members,  and  though  he  was  contributing  to  the  "  Co- 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  159 

lumbian  Magazine,"  he  was  painfully  impressed  with 
the  hopelessness  of  earning  a  livelihood  from  literary 
pursuits.  His  parents,  his  three  older  brothers, 
Joseph,  James  and  Armit,*  and  his  friends  were  all 
disappointed  that  he  had  left  off  his  law  studies,  and 
until  his  first  literary  success  was  achieved  in  "  Wie- 
land  "  in  1798,  he  was  at  times  plunged  in  the  depths 
of  despondency.  He  visited  New  York,  and  was  there 
the  guest  of  Dr.  Elihu  Hubbard  Smith  whom  he  had 
come  to  know  as  a  medical  student  in  Philadelphia. 
Smith  introduced  the  young  writer  to  a  group  of  pro 
fessional  and  literary  men  who  received  him  cordially. 
These  visits  were  frequently  repeated.  For  a  time 
New  York  was  accounted  his  home,  and  his  attachment 
to  his  friends  in  that  city  almost  cost  him  his  life  during 
the  fever  plague  of  1798.  Throughout  this  time,  by 
his  own  account,  he  "  mused  and  wrote  cheerfully  in 
spite  of  the  groans  of  the  dying  and  the  rumbling  of 
the  hearses." 

In  Philadelphia  in  1793  Brown  had  escaped  the 
dangers  of  the  disease  by  removing  with  his  family  to 
a  place  of  safety  in  the  country.  While  in  New  York 
he  had  spent  several  summers  at  Perth  Amboy  with  his 
friend  who  was  later  his  biographer,  the  artist  and 
dramatist,  William  Dunlap,  but  in  1798  he  tarried  in 
the  city  with  Dr.  Smith.  A  distinguished  Italian 
traveler,  Dr.  Scandella,  after  many  adventures,  which 
read  as  if  they  were  drawn  from  one  of  Brown's  novels, 
was  seized  with  the  malady,  to  be  taken  into  Smith's 
home.  The  Italian  soon  died.  Dr.  Smith  followed 
him  to  the  grave  and  Brown,  who  was  a  nurse  for  both, 

*  Whence  descends  Henry  Armitt  Brown,  the  orator  of  the  Valley 
Forge  Centennial. 


-        r     :-       ~:  -f       l-_ 


AI 

TJi.rrj. 

zr:~~~.  ?    ::i:r:r    is    i    ~~::r    :: 


is  to  be  found  hot  a  small  port  of  all 

bF 

WhOc  h 
with  his  New  York  magazine.     Eght  of  IBS  fekads 

~      ".  27     J  -  7~«"     J".  ^.2.     7-i-l^--l     7-T-  -  ~*_5--  .  •  -'5      ~  .  T     I.     >_  ~  J-  i  ~  " 

amount  to  insure  its  success.  He  r^nWi  m>  "The- 
Monthly  Magazine  and  ^••rirjm  Review,"  and  the 
red  in  ApdL  1799. 


almost  the  uutc  Tohnnc  of  what  was  pofefished  in  this 
periocfical  and  at  first  had  from  it  enticing  pcospects  of 
InitiBir  Tncre  were  400  subscribers*  which  A  WOT 
computed  would  repay  the  anwal  cost  of  tssoe;  or 
$1,600.  **  Afl  above  400  wifl  he  door  profit  to  me*1* 
he  wrote  to  one  of  his  brothers,  and  i  ,000  subscribers, 
he  calculated,  would  yield  him  a  net  annul  income  of 
£2,700.  His  hopes  were  not  realized  and  at  the  cad 
of  the  year  iSoo  the  publication  ceased,  the  editor  re 
turning  to  bis  home  in  Philadelphia, 

In  bis  own  city  Charles  BtoUjka  Bros*  was  not 
hog  to  dwell  in  literary  MHKIV  He  was  warn  writing 
political  pamphlets.  He  made  an  arrangement  with 
John  Conrad,  a  publisher  in  Philadelphia,  fee  a 
magazine,  '  *  The  Literary  Magazine  and  Ai 
Register."  At  the  time  it  was  founded,,  in  October, 
1 803,  theie  was  no  other  monthly  publication  in  Amer 
ica  and  the  way  looked  dear  before  it.  The  editor  in 
bis  salutatory  said:  "  I  cannot  expatiate  on  the  vanity 


162  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

of  my  knowledge,  the  brilliancy  of  my  wit,  the  versa 
tility  of  my  talents.  To  none  of  these  do  I  lay  any 
claim."  But  it  was  his  hope  "  to  collect  into  one  focal 
spot  the  rays  of  a  great  number  of  luminaries."  It 
would  be  his  province  "  to  hold  the  mirror  up  so  as 
to  assemble  all  their  influences  within  its  verge  and  re 
flect  them  on  the  public  in  such  a  manner  as  to  warm 
and  enlighten." 

In  enlisting  the  co-operation  of  other  writers,  Brown 
had  no  great  success.  In  one  number  nothing  was  con 
tributed  but  a  short  article;  everything  else  was  from 
the  editor's  own  hand.  There  was  no  gayety  in  this 
publication,  for  Brown  had  none.  Nevertheless,  the 
magazine  was  continued  for  nearly  five  years. 

In  1806  he  began  to  compile  for  the  same  publish 
ing  house  his  "  American  Register  or  General  Reposi 
tory  of  History,  Politics  and  Science,"  an  annual  review 
of  the  world's  happenings  in  different  fields  which  was 
issued  for  five  years  (1806-10  inclusive),  a  large  vol 
ume  and  sometimes  two  volumes  for  the  year.  It  was 
published  until  its  editor  was  obliged  to  surrender  to 
his  disease. 

Consumption  for  many  years  had  been  his  arch  en 
emy.  He  had  travelled  hither  and  thither  in  vain  in  the 
hope  of  strengthening  his  weak,  pale  frame,  and  when 
the  attack  from  which  he  was  not  to  rise  came,  in  No 
vember,  1809,  his  friends  were  urging  him  to  undertake 
a  journey  to  Europe,  though  it  was  against  his  inclina 
tions.  In  that  year  he  wrote  to  a  member  of  his  family : 
"  When  have  I  known  that  lightness  and  vivacity  of 
mind  which  the  divine  flow  of  health  even  in  calamity 
produces  in  some  men?  And  would  produce  in  me  no 
doubt;  at  least  when  not  soured  by  misfortune?  Never, 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  163 

scarcely  ever.  Not  longer  than  an  half  hour  at  a  time 
since  I  have  called  myself  man." 

His  only  consolation  was  found  in  his  books  which 
for  him,  he  said,  had  "  great  efficacy  in  beguiling  body 
of  its  pains  and  thoughts  of  their  melancholy,  in  re 
lieving  head  and  heart  of  their  aches."  He  died  on 
February  22,  1810,  at  his  home  in  Eleventh  Street  near 
Chestnut  when  only  thirty-nine  years  of  age,  being  in 
terred  in  an  unmarked  spot  in  the  Friends'  burial 
ground  at  Fourth  and  Arch  Streets.* 

While  choice  of  his  fellows,  few  more  fully  enjoyed 
those  intimacies  which  were  contracted.  Although  not 
adhering  closely  to  Quaker  tenets,  to  his  Quaker  friends 
he  used  his  "  thee  "  and  "  thy  "  as  one  to  the  manner 
born.  He  had  a  brief  period  of  domestic  bliss,  for 
while  in  New  York  he  met,  wooed  and  won  for  a  wife 
Elizabeth  Linn.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Dr.  William 
Linn  of  Shippensburg,  Pa.,  once  the  President  of  Rut 
gers  College,  and  at  the  time  a  distinguished  Presbyte 
rian  clergyman  in  New  York.  The  young  novelist  and 
Miss  Linn  were  married  in  November,  1804,  and  she 
came  to  make  her  home  in  Philadelphia  where  her 
brother,  Dr.  John  Blair  Linn,  also  a  minister,  had  been 
preaching  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  until  his 
death  of  consumption  in  the  preceding  August.  He 
had  been  Brown's  intimate  friend  and  was  a  writer  of 
verses,  one  of  which,  an  epic  called  "  Valerian,"  the 
novelist  edited  and  published  with  a  memoir. 

Although  Brown  was  to  have  little  more  than  five 
years  of  married  happiness,  he  left  four  children,  three 

*I  am  indebted  to  Miss  M.  Atherton  Leach  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Historical  Society  for  the  researches  which  have  resulted  in  the 
location  of  Brown's  grave  as  well  as  for  many  other  kindnesses 
enjoyed  in  the  progress  of  this  investigation. 


164  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

boys  and  an  infant  girl.  Two  were  twins  of  whom  he 
wrote  when  they  were  born :  "  I  was  always  terribly 
impressed  with  the  hardships  and  anxieties  attending 
the  care  of  infants  and  was  at  the  moment  appalled  by 
the  prospect  of  a  double  portion  of  care.  .  .  . 
Now  after  two  months'  experience  I  find,  and  their 
mother  finds,  that  the  two  healthy  and  lovely  babes  are 
a  double  joy  instead  of  being  a  double  care." 

The  final  judgment  on  Brown's  work  may  not  yet 
have  been  uttered,  but  it  is  not  difficult  now  to  assign 
his  novels  to  their  proper  place.  They  must  be  consid 
ered  in  the  light  of  the  time  in  which  they  were  written 
when  they  will  be  accounted  to  have  a  great  deal  of 
value  in  spite  of  crudities  and  imperfections  that  are 
obvious  to  all  who  dip  but  a  little  way  into  them.  They 
are  the  work  of  a  writer  of  unbridled  imagination. 
In  a  few  pages  there  are  exciting  incidents  enough  to 
serve  a  novelist  of  this  day  for  an  entire  volume.  Lust, 
intrigue  and  multiplied  mystery  testify  to  a  fancy  as 
fecund  as  that  of  the  Sultana  who  saved  her  head  by 
relating  the  tales  of  the  one  thousand  and  one  nights 
in  Arabia. 

Philadelphia  in  Brown's  hands  at  once  became  a 
kind  of  Bagdad.  Marvelous  houses  with  winding  stair 
ways  and  dark  basements,  dead  men  who  conic  to  life, 
voices  in  closets,  lights  that  strangely  disappear,  treas 
ure  found  and  lost  with  much  seduction,  suicide  and 
murder  make  up  a  record  which  contains  suggestions 
for  a  generation  of  story  writers.  If  the  plots  could 
be  rid  of  involution,  they  would  be  enjoyed  by  the  bad 
boys  of  our  day.  The  reader  is  carried  headlong  from 
one  startling  situation  to  another  until  he  is  mentally 
fagged,  although  compelled  to  read  on,  in  the  end 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  165 

viewing  with  wonder  the  singular  flow  of  the  author's 
imagination. 

An  impression  is  created  of  a  mind  too  full  of  possi 
bilities  of  strange  complications  for  convenient  arrange 
ment  and  utterance.  Probability  is  taxed  to  its  limits, 
although  his  friends  assert,  when  they  compare  his 
work  with  that  of  other  writers,  that  these  bounds  are 
never  passed.  The  narrative  proceeds  in  short,  tense, 
direct,  high-strung  sentences,  striking  with  the  force 
and  regularity  of  a  trip-hammer.  Of  charm  of  style 
his  readers  will  acquit  Charles  Brockden  Brown.  Of 
niceties  of  language  or  care  in  the  arrangement  of  his 
ideas  there  is  almost  total  lack.  Of  humor  or  epigram 
there  is  none.  Dialect  is  used  only  awkwardly,  and 
the  characters  talk  in  an  unchanging  monotone.  In 
deed,  dialogue  is  little  resorted  to  by  Brown  in  his 
story-telling,  and  there  are  pages  and  chapters  of  state 
ments  and  confessions  unrelieved  by  quotation  marks. 
The  narrator,  who  uses  the  first  person,  changes  from 
time  to  time,  and  only  close  and  continued  attention  dis 
closes  the  identity  of  the  speaker.  The  most  marked 
defect  in  Brown's  work,  however,  is  his  failure  to  make 
use  of  all  the  material  which  he  so  lavishly  spreads  out 
before  us  as  his  story  proceeds. 

"  Wieland  "  errs  principally  through  the  artificiality 
of  the  devices  employed  to  create  the  tissue  of  mystery 
of  which  the  tale  consists.  Two  ideas  are  utilized,  the 
principle  of  "  self  combustion "  by  which  the  elder 
Wieland,  the  German  mystic  who  has  a  temple  of 
prayer  somewhere  on  the  banks  of  the  Wissahickon  or 
Schuylkill,  is  consumed;  and  ventriloquism,  an  art  then 
new,  by  which  a  man  for  no  sufficient  motive  induces 
the  younger  Wieland  to  murder  his  wife  and  children. 


1 66  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

The  great  defect  of  "  Arthur  Mervyn,"  on  the  other 
hand,  is  the  introduction  of  episodes  that  are  forgotten 
by  the  author  in  the  later  development  of  his  plot.  In 
the  end  he  has  two  interesting  heroines  whose  fate  re 
mains  to  be  explained.  They  are  suddenly  abandoned 
for  a  third.  It  is  plain  that  the  author  changed  his 
plans  again  and  again  as  his  work  progressed  under  his 
hand.  These  faults  arose  from  the  fact  that  the 
printer  literally  stood  at  his  shoulder  while  he  wrote, 
after  "  Wieland  "  had  whetted  the  public  taste  for  his 
stories,  and  the  manuscript  could  not  be  revised.  Such 
speed  was  fatal  to  art  as  it  was  to  Brown  himself. 

The  facts  remain  that  "  Wieland  "  is  an  absorbing 
tale  of  mystery,  while  "Arthur  Mervyn"  is  more;  it 
is  in  its  first  part  an  historical  document  ranking  with 
Dr.  Rush's  and  Mathew  Carey's  writings  as  a  truthful 
delineation  of  the  peculiar  horrors  of  the  yellow  fever 
plague  of  1793  in  Philadelphia.  Of  his  description  of 
the  scene  between  Welbeck  and  Mervyn,  when  the  lat 
ter  burns  up  $20,000  in  notes,  Brown  subsequently 
wrote  to  his  brother  that  "  to  excite  and  baffle  curiosity 
without  shocking  belief  is  the  end  to  be  contemplated. 
I  have  endeavored  to  wind  up  the  reader's  passions  to 
the  highest  pitch  and  to  make  the  catastrophe  in  the 
highest  degree  unexpected  and  momentous."  This  in 
short  was  the  guiding  principle  of  Browrn's  life  as  a 
novel  writer,  and  that  he  succeeded  in  spite  of  defects 
which  it  is  easy  to  see  and  criticize,  is  his  title  to  a  na 
tional  and  international  place  in  literature. 

It  is  impossible  to  find  a  measure  of  the  circulation 
of  his  books  or  of  the  profit  that  accrued  to  him  as 
their  author.  However,  it  cannot  have  been  large  for 
he  wrote  to  his  brother  Joseph  in  1800,  after  his  second 


THE  FRUITS  OF  THE  WAR  167 

successful  book  had  appeared:  "Seldom  less  happy 
than  at  present;  seldom  has  my  prospect  been  a 
gloomier  one.  Yet  it  may  shine  when  least  expected." 

Again  he  wrote  in  the  same  year:  "  Book-making  is 
the  dullest  of  all  trades  and  the  utmost  that  any  Ameri 
can  can  look  for  in  his  native  country  is  to  be  reim 
bursed  his  unavoidable  expenses.'*  At  his  death,  his 
wife  conducted  a  boarding-house  to  sustain  herself  and 
her  children. 

Thus  the  novel  was  established  in  America  by  an 
undoubted  literary  genius,  but  on  foundations  too  has 
tily  and  too  carelessly  built.  His  own  physical  wretch 
edness,  his  penury,  his  temperament  that  caused  him  to 
work  with  unparalleled  rapidity  —  all  conspire  to  cast 
discredit  upon  his  art  and  make  his  achievement  seem 
vastly  smaller  than  it  might  have  been  under  more  fav 
orable  circumstances.  But  blemishes  may  be  forgot  in 
the  presence  of  such  a  creative  faculty,  and  though  the 
reproach  be  fairly  his  that  his  novels  are  not  read  to 
day,  it  is  no  conclusive  argument  against  an  author 
whose  place  has  long  been  secure  in  our  gallery  of  lit 
erary  men. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    PORT    FOLIO 


The  arrival  in  Philadelphia  of  Joseph  Dcnnie  to 
become  private  secretary  to  Timothy  Pickering,  John 
Adams's  Secretary  of  State,  was  a  fortunate  event  in 
the  literary  life  of  the  city.  The  capital  was  removed 
to  Washington  but  he  remained  to  establish  a  weekly 
critical  paper,  the  "  Port  Folio,"  and  to  make  him 
self  the  centre  of  a  little  group  of  lovers  of  "  polite 
and  elegant  literature  "  who  contributed  to  his  journal 
and  were  members  of  his  famous  Tuesday  Club. 

The  "  Port  Folio  "  was  published  in  one  form  or 
another  from  1801  until  1827;  therefore  for  more 
thrtn  a  quarter  of  a  century;  and  it  enhanced  in  a  ma 
terial  way  the  public  love  and  respect  in  America  for 
poetry,  the  essay,  satire,  criticism  and  the  literary  fine 
arts.  No  magazine  in  the  country  exerted  a  more  be 
neficent  influence  in  that  direction.  Although  its  cir 
culation  seems  at  no  time  to  have  exceeded  2,000  or 
2,500  copies,  its  editor  continued  on  his  way  boldly  and 
fearlessly  with  no  master  but  his  own  cultivated  spirit. 

Joseph  Dennie  came  to  Philadelphia  from  Massa 
chusetts  and  upon  his  life  before  he  reached  the  na- 
ttonal  capital  we  need  not  linger.  He  was  called  the 
American  Addison  while  he  still  resided  in  New  Eng 
land,  and  to  that  name  he  had  a  clearer  title  than 
many  of  his  critics  are  disposed  to  admit.  lie  was 
born  in  Boston  in  1768.  In  Harvard  he  was  noted 

168 


THE  PORT  FOLIO  169 

for  his  attractive  manners,  ready  wit  and  the  outspoken 
habit  which  clung  to  him  through  life.  For  insulting 
a  tutor  and  later  the  government  of  the  college,  he  was 
suspended  for  six  months.  At  the  end  of  his  academic 
course  he  studied  law  in  New  Hampshire  and  in  1794 
opened  an  office  for  practice  in  Charlestown  in  that 
state.  He  early  began  "  The  Farrago  "  papers  — 
short  essays  printed  in  various  places  at  uncertain  times. 
His  literary  fame  had  reached  Boston  when  he  visited 
the  city  to  consult  a  law  library,  and  his  friends  there 
persuaded  him  to  edit  a  little  critical 
paper  to  be  called  "  The  Tablet."  It 
appeared  for  thirteen  weeks,  when  it 
must  suspend,  its  editor  returning  to  the 
law  in  New  Hampshire. 

He  soon  began  a  series  of  essays, 
signed  "  The  Lay  Preacher,"  for  a 
country  paper,  the  "  Farmers'  Mu 
seum,"  of  Walpole,  N.  H.  They  were 
widely  copied  and  the  author  of  them 
was  invited  to  become  the  editor  of 

the  journal.     He  succeeded  in  drawing  SILHOUETTE 

.       ,  .,  -  ..  OF  JOSEPH  DEN- 

to  it  the  contributions  of  literary  men      NIE    FROM    THE 

in  all  parts  of  the  Union,  and  its  value  "  PORT  FoLI°" 
was  soon  recognized  from  Maine  to  Georgia.  In  spite 
of  this  fact,  the  publisher  went  bankrupt  in  1798, 
owing  Dennie  several  hundred  dollars.  The  next  year 
Mr.  Pickering  threw  out  a  suggestion  that  the  "  Lay 
Preacher"  should  come  to  Philadelphia  at  $1,000 
a  year.  The  offer  was  accepted  and  the  young 
New  England  essayist  was  warmly  received  in  intel 
lectual  circles  at  the  national  capital.  He  wrote  ac 
tively  in  the  Federalist  interest  for  Fenno's  "  Gazette," 


170  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

and  soon  induced  Asbury  Dickins,  the  bookseller  in 
Second  Street  opposite  Christ  Church,  to  undertake  the 
publication  of  the  "  Port  Folio."  *  A  liberal  man 
was  Dickins,  said  Dennie,  one  "  who  in  literary  negotia 
tions  is  unaccustomed  to  measure  talents  with  a  two- 
foot  rule  or  to  ascertain  the  exact  quantum  of  mental 
labor  with  the  vulgar  arithmetic  of  a  pitiful  excise 


man." 


The  paper  was  printed  by  Hugh  Maxwell  to  whom 
Charles  Brockden  Brown  had  entrusted  "  Arthur  Mer- 
vyn."  The  first  number,  a  quarto  of  eight  pages,  ap 
peared  on  January  3,  1801,  and  it  was  to  be  issued  on 
every  succeeding  Saturday  morning  at  five  dollars  a 
year,  cash  in  advance.  Edited  by  u  Oliver  Oldschool, 
Esq.,"  the  fictitious  name  Dennie  hacTcTiosen  "for  ""Him 
self  in  his  new  role,  his  journal  was  to  be  "  devoted 
principally  to  moral  instruction  and  polite  literature." 
But  for  some  time,  while  the  city  was  still  disturbed  by 
the  Jacobinical  discussion,  it  was  also  a  powerful  po 
litical  organ,  untiring  in  its  efforts  to  counteract  the 
teachings  of  William  Duane,  so  diligently  propagated 
in  the  "  Aurora."  Already  in  his  prospectus  Dennie 
wrote  that  the  editor  of  the  "  Port  Folio  "  "  will  not 
rive  to  please  the  populace  at  the  expense  of  their 
quiet  by  infusing  into  every  ill-balanced  and  weak  mind 
a  jealousy  of  rulers,  a  love  of  innovation,  an  impatience 
of  salutary  restraint,  or  the  reveries  of  liberty,  equality 
and  the  rights  of  man.  He  will  not  labor  to  confound 
the  moral,  social  and  political  system,  nor  desperately 
essay  *  to  break  up  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  of 

*  Later,  Dickins  for  twenty-five  years  was  Secretary  of  the  United 
States  Senate,  being  a  son  of  John  Dickins,  a  powerful  Methodist 
preacher,  who  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1789. 


THE  PORT  FOLIO. 


D.Y 


OLIVER  OLDSCHOOL,  ESQ. 


t various  that  the  mind 

Of  desultory  man,  studious  of  change, 
And  pleas'd  with  novelty, -may  be  indulged. 


VOL.  I....FOR  1801. 


PHILADELPHIA, 


HUNTED  BV  H.  MAXWELL.  AKD  SOLD  BY  WILLIAM  FRY.  HO.  Mi>'ORTH  SCCOKD-STREtr. 
OPPOSITE  CHRIST-CHURCH. 


1801. 

TITLE  PAGE  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME  OF  THE  "  PORT  FOLIO  " 


I72  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

government.1  He  will  not  repeat  to  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water  the  Fairy  Tales  of  France  that 
all  men  are  kings  and  emperors  and  nobles  and  judges 
and  statesmen." 

For  vigorous  English,  there  is  in  his  writings  much 
to  equal  but  little  to  surpass  his  defense  of  Marie  An 
toinette,  "  who  was  hurled  from  the  high  seat  of  legiti 
mate  power  by  the  smirched  and  bloody  hands  of  the 
chimney  sweepers,  and  butchers  of  an  atrocious  revolu 
tion;  a  revolution  the  most  hideous  of  all  the  hated  rev 
olutions  which  have  vexed  the  repose  and  cheated  the 
expectations  of  mankind. "  Strong,  clear  and  direct 
statement  was  aided  by  another  weapon,  satire.  Once 
Dennie  published  a  communication  from  the  wife  of  a 
Philadelphia  tailor,  who  complained  that  her  husband 
was  "  newspaper  mad."  His  entire  time  was  taken 
up  in  reading  Duane's  "  Aurora,"  in  relating  the  won 
ders  of  it,  and  commenting  upon  them  to  all  who  passed. 
The  capture  of  Genoa  by  the  French  had  cost  two  yards 
of  cloth  which  were  spoiled  in  the  cutting  when  he  heard 
the  news,  and  all  he  made  from  his  trade  was  consumed 
in  nightly  drinkings  at  the  inns  to  the  cause  of  liberty. 

Dennie's  attacks  upon  the  democratic  system  were  so 
violent  that  at  the  instigation  of  Duane,  he  was  indicted 
by  the  Grand  Jury  in  1803  for  uttering  an  "inflam 
matory  and  seditious  libel;"  but  aided  by  his  friends, 
the  ablest  lawyers  of  the  city,  Judge  Hopkinson,  Charles 
Jared  Ingersoll  and  William  Meredith,  he  was  found 
not  guilty  when  the  case  was  tried  in  1805. 

It  was  at  first  supposed  that  enough  advertisements 
could  be  obtained  to  fill  a  separate  sheet  which  might 
form  "  an  useful  envelope  to  the  Port  Folio."  These, 
however,  must  be  of  an  unexceptionable  character. 


THE  PORT  FOLIO  173 

"  No  place  will  be  ever  allowed  to  the  obscene  filth  of 
quack  doctors,"  wrote  Oldschool,  "  nor  to  the  gibberish 
bills  of  jugglers,  tumblers,  rope  dancers,  French  moun 
tebanks,  etc.  The  editor  is  determined  to  give  cur 
rency  to  nothing  except  the  correct  and  the  useful." 
But  even  the  booksellers  did  not  support  the  paper  lib 
erally.  They  oftentimes  failed  to  subscribe  for  it,  al 
though  Dennie  made  a  subscription  the  lowest  price  of 
including  notices  of  their  publications  in  his  "  Literary 
Intelligence." 

The  editor  had  sorry  experiences  in  collecting  the 
amounts  due  him  by  his  subscribers.  u  The  numerous 
subscribers  who  are  indebted  to  the  editor,  some  five 
talents  and  some  ten,"  Oldschool  wrote  in  1802,  "  are 
respectfully  invited  to  enclose  them  in  letters  postpaid. 
Unless  the  editor  receive  more  liberal  aid  he  must  at 
the  close  of  the  present  year  lock  up  his  Port  Folio." 
People  who  were  "  occupied  with  higher  cares "  he 
urged  not  "  to  forget  or  procrastinate  our  trifling 
claims.  Remote  subscribers  are  requested  to  correspond 
with  the  editor  and  let  the  topics  be  cash  and  increas 
ing  patronage."  He  also  reminded  his  readers  that  he 
had  been  working  for  the  pleasure  and  edification  of 
the  public  since  1795,  but  his  writings  were  u  scarcely 
lucrative  enough  to  pay  for  the  oil  consumed  in  their 
composition."  They  were  asked  to  remember  that 
"  without  the  dew  the  corn  shall  wither  on  his  stalk." 
Often  subscribers,  in  making  their  remittances,  did  not 
prepay  the  postage  which  on  a  letter  from  a  remote 
place,  containing  five  dollars,  might  amount  to  one  dol 
lar.  For  this  reason  in  January,  1804,  the  price  of  the 
"  Port  Folio  "  was  increased  to  six  dollars  a  year  at 
which  rate  it  remained  ever  afterward. 


174  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

Dennie  had  once  said  in  New  England  that  he  would 
not  edit  a  democratic  paper  for  twelve  millions  of  dol 
lars  annually.  He  disdained  public  adulation  and 
cringed  to  none  with  hope  of  pecuniary  gain.  "  The 
common  people  in  every  country  in  every  age  are  nearly 
the  same,"  the  editor  observed  in  his  own  behalf. 
"  Their  praise  is  often  to  be  dreaded  and  their  censure 
is  generally  a  proof  of  the  merit  of  the  object.  That 
miscellaneous  rabble  which  Burke  emphatically  calls  the 
1  miserable  sheep  of  society  '  have  never  yet  compelled  or 
allured  him  to  run  with  barefaced  debasement  the  scrub 
race  of  popularity."  His  contempt  for  "  the  million  " 
never  diminished.  Shortly  before  his  death  he  wrote: 
"  For  more  than  fifteen  years  we  have  published  in  pe 
riodical  pages  our  sentiments  in  complete  defiance  of 
the  choice  or  dictation  of  the  many.  In  this  path  we 
shall  persevere  and  while  the  editor  obtains  the  partial 
suffrage  of  gentlemen,  scholars  and  Christians,  he  is 
most  contemptuously  careless  of  the  vulgar  voice." 

The  same  independence  of  spirit  controlled  him  in 
his  relations  with  his  readers  and  correspondents,  whom 
he  addressed  in  a  column  weekly.  In  his  opening  invi 
tation  to  contributors  he  wrote  conciliatingly :  — 

"  The  editor  will  exercise  great  tenderness  and  lenity 
towards  all  who  tempt  the  dangerous  ocean  of  ink. 
The  literary  offspring  of  youthful  and  trembling 
authors  shall,  if  possible,  be  fostered. 

"  Our  natures,  merciful  and  mild, 
Will  from  fond  pity  save  the  child ; 
In  bulrush-ark  the  bantling  found, 
Helpless  and  ready  to  be  drown'd, 
We  will  preserve  by  kind  support 
And  bring  the  baby  muse  to  court." 


JOSEPH    DENNIE 


THE  PORT  FOLIO  175 

But  so  long  as  he  lived,  Dennie  never  deviated  from 
his  high  literary  standards  for  any  consideration.  He 
soon  had  so  many  contributors  that  he  could  speak  his 
mind  to  them.  No  part  of  the  journal  is  more  enter 
taining  than  that  in  which  he  praises  or  condemns,  en 
courages  or  endeavors  to  put  out  the  lights  of  those  who 
have  forwarded  him  their  manuscripts.  Some  inser 
tions  follow: 

"  *  X '  is  illiberal  and  sour.  Let  him  pour  out  his 
vitriolic  acid  elsewhere.  It  is  too  corrosive  for  the 
Port  Folio." 

"  We  prefer  borrowing  from  the  European  bank  of 
poetry  to  the  free  gift  of  such  a  wretched  versifier  as 
1  Sylvander.'  " 

"  *  Jenny  '  writes  with  airy  sprightliness  but  lacks 
correctness  and  has  not  read  or  remembered  the  laws 
of  composition.  The  editor  is  sorry  to  reject  the  effu 
sions  of  a  pretty  woman.  Though  as  an  editor  he  is 
obliged  to  find  fault  with  her  pen,  as  a  man  he  can  re 
peat  with  the  swain  of  Caledonia :  — 

"  Bonny  Jenny,  blithe  and  free, 
Won  my  heart  right  merrily." 

In  criticism,  Dennie  assumed  the  air  of  detachment 
to  such  a  degree  and  was  so  sparing  of  his  praise  of 
American  authors  that  he  was  openly  accused  of  un 
friendliness  to  them.  The  "  million  "  set  upon  him  in 
the  same  way  that  they  at  a  later  day  attacked  Mr. 
Edwin  L.  Godkin  for  like  contempt  of  their  ways.  Their 
wrath  availed  them  nothing.  Dennie  was  not  consid 
ering  American  literature,  but  literature  in  the  large. 
He  reviewed  the  works  of  the  principal  British  authors 
as  they  appeared  —  of  Scott,  Maria  Edgeworth, 


176  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Wordsworth,  Thomas  Campbell  and  William  God 
win.  If  he  had  not  praise  without  alloy  for  Joel  Bar 
low's  colossal  American  epic  in  ten  books,  "  The  Colum- 
biad,"  which  had  just  come  to  Philadelphia  to  be 
printed  sumptuously  by  the  Conrads,  an  important  per 
formance,  and  another  compliment  to  the  state  of  the 
publishing  trade  in  this  city,  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
speak  kindly  of  Charles  Brockden  Brown  who  he  said 
wrote  "  uncommonly  well  for  an  American."  When 
Brown's  magazine  began  to  be  published  in  Philadel 
phia  in  1805,  the  "  Port  Folio"  said  of  the  editor: 
"  Although  his  figure  appears  extenuated  by  his  ardor 
of  application  and  his  face  pallid,  not  by  the  midnight 
revel  but  by  studious  vigils,  yet  his  alert  and  robust 
mind  seems  not  to  sympathize  with  its  valetudinary 
companion.  He  employs  many  a  vigilant  and  inquisi 
tive  hour  in  reading  what  deserves  to  be  remembered 
and  in  writing  what  deserves  to  be  read." 

For  those  in  every  part  of  the  country  who  contribu 
ted  what  was  valuable  to  the  "  Port  Folio,"  its  editor 
had  only  words  of  kindness,  gratitude  and  encourage 
ment.  Dennie  drew  about  him  in  Philadelphia  in  the 
Tuesday  Club,  and  as  contributors  to  his  magazine, 
Richard  Rush,  the  lawyer  who  was  to  become  a  states 
man,  son  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush;  Judge  Hopkinson, 
Horace  Binney  and  William  Meredith,  all  at  the 
Philadelphia  bar;  Robert  Walsh,  the  author  and 
editor;  Charles  Brockden  Brown,  Rev.  John  Blair 
Linn,  the  poet,  Brown's  brother-in-law;  Nicholas  Bid- 
die,  Charles  Jared  Ingersoll,  the  lawyer  and  author; 
Dr.  Nathaniel  Chapman,  the  "  Falkland "  of  the 
"  Port  Folio;  "  General  Thomas  Caduahuler,  who  made 
translations  from  Horace;  Samuel  Ewing,  son  of  the 


THE  PORT  FOLIO  177 

Provost  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  who  wrote 
verse  under  the  name  of  "  Jacques  "  and  later  became  a 
lawyer;  Thomas  I.  Wharton,  lawyer,  legal  writer  and 
commentator;  Richard  Peters,  son  of  Judge  Peters  and 
the  editor  of  the  "  Reports  "  of  the  United  States  Su 
preme  Court;  Philip  Hamilton,  the  son  of  Alexander 
Hamilton,  soon  killed  in  a  duel  on  the  field  upon  which 
his  father  was  later  to  fall  in  combat  with  Aaron  Burr; 
William  B.  Wood,  the  actor  and  theatrical  manager  so 
long  identified  with  dramatic  art  in  Philadelphia;  and 
Alexander  Wilson,  whose  poem,  "  The  Foresters,"  was 
published  in  installments  in  the  "  Port  Folio.'*  Many 
of  the  principal  scholars  of  the  land  wrote  from  time  to 
time  for  the  magazine.  Some  of  the  most  graceful  of 
Dennie's  contributors  followed  him  to  Philadelphia 
from  the  "  Farmers'  Museum."  Thus  he  still  had  the 
assistance  of  Royal  Tyler,  a  young  Bostonian  who  had 
studied  law  in  the  office  of  John  Adams,  later  removing 
to  Vermont  where  he  became  Chief  Justice  of  the  Su 
preme  Court.  He  wrote  "  The  Algerine  Captive," 
one  of  the  earliest  of  American  novels,  and  contributed 
to  the  "  Museum  "  and  the  "  Port  Folio  "  a  melange 
of  light  verse  and  comment  purporting  to  come  "  from 
the  shop  of  Messrs.  Colon  and  Spondee."  Thomas 
Green  Fessenden,  the  satirical  poet,  Dennie's  protege 
at  Walpole,  also  continued  his  contributions.  Dennie 
himself  published  new  "  Farrago "  and  "  Lay 
Preacher  "  papers,  adding  other  essays  under  fictitious 
signatures  as  his  pleasure  dictated  and  the  literary  need 
arose. 

In  the  summer  of  1804  Thomas  Moore,  the  amatory 
Irish  bard,  arrived  in  Philadelphia.  He  had  come  to 
the  United  States  from  the  Bermudas,  whither  he  was 


1 78  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

commissioned  upon  some  government  business.  Moore 
was  "  completely  disappointed  in  every  flattering  expec 
tation  "  which  he  had  formed  of  this  country,  and  was 
inclined  to  say  to  America,  as  Horace  said  to  his  mis 
tress,  "  Intentata  nites."  Nowhere  but  in  Philadel 
phia,  if  we  believe  his  own  account,  did  he  find  sympa 
thetic  companionship,  and  here  the  pain  of  contact  with 
our 

"  One  dull  chaos,  one  unfertile  strife, 
Betwixt  half-polish'd  and  half-barbarous  life, 
Where  every  ill  the  ancient  world  can  brew 
Is  mixed  with  every  grossness  of  the  new," 

had  but  one  alleviation,  the  society  of  Joseph  Dennie. 
Only  for  the  sake  of  the  editor  of  the  "  Port  Folio  " 
and  his  friends,  did  Moore  repent  his  ungenerous  judg 
ments  : — 

"  Yet,  yet  forgive  me,  oh,  you  sacred  few ! 
Whom  late  by  Delaware's  green  banks  I  knew; 
Whom,  known  and  lov'd  through  many  a  social  eve, 
'Twas  bliss  to  live  with  and  'twas  pain  to  leave." 

They  alone  recalled  his  friends  at  home,  for  — 

"  while  I  wing'd  the  hours 

Where  Schuylkill  undulates  through  banks  of  flowers, 
Though  few  the  days,  the  happy  evenings  few, 
So  warm  the  heart,  so  rich  with  mind  they  flew 
That  my  full  soul  forgot  its  wish  to  roam 
And  rested  there  as  in  a  dream  of  love." 

No  doubt  what  Moore  most  enjoyed  in  his  new 
found  Philadelphia  friends  was  their  conviviality,  and 
their  hatred  of  the  rampant  French  democracy,  for  he 
writes : — 


THE  PORT  FOLIO  179 

"  Long  may  you  hate  the  Gallic  dross  that  runs 
O'er  your  fair  country  and  corrupts  its  sons." 

"  In  the  society  of  Mr.  Dennie  and  his  friends  at 
Philadelphia,"  Moore  explains  in  prose,  "  I  passed  the 
only  agreeable  moments  which  my  tour  through  the 
States  afforded  me.  Mr.  Dennie  has  succeeded  in  dif 
fusing  through  this  elegant  little  circle  that  love  for 
good  literature  and  sound  politics  which  he  feels  so 
zealously  himself  and  which  is  so  very  rarely  the  char 
acteristic  of  his  countrymen.  If  I  did  not  hate  as  I 
ought  the  rabble  to  which  they  are  opposed  I  could  not 
value  as  I  do  the  spirit  with  which  they  defy  it;  and 
in  learning  from  them  what  Americans  can  be  I  but 
see  with  the  more  indignation  what  Americans  are." 

It  is  a  persistent  myth  that  the  Irish  poet,  while  in 
Philadelphia,  occupied  a  small  house  in  Fairmount 
Park,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Schuylkill,  above  Bel- 
mont,  still  called  "  Tom  Moore's  Cottage,"  where  he 
was  inspired  to  write  the  poem  beginning  — 

"  Alone  by  the  Schuylkill  a  wanderer  rov'd, 

And  bright  were  its  flowery  banks  to  his  eye ; 
But  far,  very  far,  were  the  friends  that  he  lov'd, 
And  he  gaz'd  on  its  flowery  banks  with  a  sigh." 

Moore  was  not  long  enough  in  the  city  to  make  any 
house  his  home  and  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  was 
identified  with  that  one  which  bears  his  name,  beyond 
what  is  implied  perhaps  by  passing  in  and  out  of  it. 

Many  of  his  poems  were  published  for  the  first  time 
in  the  "  Port  Folio,"  and  served  to  increase  the 
regard  which  was  entertained  for  that  publication  in 
literary  circles  in  America.  For  this  reason,  or  other 


i8o 


LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 


cause,  a  writer  in  Brown's  rival  magazine  was  impelled 
to  speak  slightingly  of  Moore.  "  I  never  heard  of  any 
merit  he  possessed  beyond  that  of  a  writer  of  drinking 
songs  and  love  ditties,"  this  critic  observed.  "  Even 
his  warmest  admirers  say  no 
more  of  him  than  that  he  drinks 
genteelly,  plays  well  on  the  piano 
forte,  writes  very  fine  verses  and 
sings  his  own  verses  scientific 
ally."  So  scientific  indeed  was 
his  singing  that  on  one  occasion, 
it  is  alleged,  Mrs.  Joseph  Hop- 
kinson,  the  wife  of  the  author  of 
"  Hail  Columbia,"  wept  at  hear 
ing  him.  Dennie's  envious  com 
petitors  might  compose  them 
selves  as  best  they  could.  Tom 
Moore  had  come  and  gone,  and 
left,  in  his  wake,  many  a  ripple 
on  the  surface  of  Philadelphia's 
literary  society. 

The  "  Port  Folio  "  continued 
to  appear  each  week  for  eight 
years.  But  its  pecuniary  success, 
TOM  MOORE,  FROM  "  GRA-  Dennie  wrote,  had  been  "  of  no 
HAM'S  MAGAZINE"  brilliant  complexion,"  and  he 
was  obliged,  at  the  beginning  of  1809,  to  convert  it 
into  a  monthly  magazine  of  about  one  hundred  pages. 
Brown's  magazine  was  now  no  longer  published  and 
this  one  was  projected  in  the  hope  that  it  would  con 
tribute  "  to  the  interest  of  individuals,  to  the  power 
of  Philadelphia  and  the  aggrandizement  of  our  em 
pire."  Partisan  political  discussion  was  to  be  eschewed 


THE  PORT  FOLIO 

A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE, 

PIVOTED 

TO  USEFUL  SCIENCE,  THE  LIBERAL  ARTS,  LEGITIMATE 
CRITICISM,  AND  POLITE  LITERATURE; 

CONDUCTED 

BY  OLIVER  OLJDSCHOOL,  ESQ. 

ASSISTED 

BY  A  CONFEDERACY  OF  MEN  OF  LETTERS. 
VOL.1. 


PUBLISHED  BY  BRADFORD  Cr  1NSKEEP,  PHILADELPHIA, 
AND  INSKEEP  &  BRADFORD,  NEW-YORK. 

PRINTED    BY    SMITH   CC  MAXWELt. 

1809. 


TITLE  PAGE  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME  OF  A  NEW  SERIES  OF  THE 
"  PORT  FOLIO  " 


182  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

and  with  some  rhetorical  flourishes  to  the  advantage  of 
Philadelphia  the  monthly  "  Port  Folio  "  made  its  bow 
to  its  readers.  "  The  place  of  publication  is  unques 
tionably  auspicious  to  all  the  projects  of  genius,  science, 
and  art/'  wrote  Dennie.  "  A  magnificent  metropolis 
continually  widening  her  sphere  of  splendor,  distin 
guished  by  the  possession  of  the  best  libraries  in  the 
United  States,  memorable  for  the  liberality  of  her  in 
stitutions  and  the  grandeur  of  her  views,  must  be  the 
genuine  Alma  Mater,  the  foster  nurse  of  the  rising  gen 
eration  of  the  genius  of  America." 

But  Dennie  himself,  like  his  journal,  was  now  on  the 
downward  path.  His  physical  debilities  were  making 
severe  inroads  upon  his  mental  health.  He  was  "  the 
sport  of  the  elements,  the  wintry  winds  often  obliging 
him  to  keep  his  room."  A  consumptive,  he  was  at 
times  afflicted  with  great  depression  of  spirits,  when  he 
sought  solace  in  his  cups,  a  practice  that  was  encour 
aged  by  his  spirit  of  good  fellowship.  In  conversa 
tion  he  was  as  polished  as  when  he  expressed  himself 
with  the  pen,  and  in  many  Philadelphia  homes,  as  in 
William  Meredith's,  he  was  a  welcome  guest.  Both 
Mr.  Meredith  and  his  wife,  who  was  Gertrude  Gouver- 
neur  Ogden,  a  niece  of  Gouverneur  Morris,  were  con 
tributors  to  the  u  Port  Folio  "  and  were  members  of 
Dennie's  little  coterie. 

He  was  noted  for  the  great  care  he  gave  to  his  per 
sonal  appearance.  When  in  the  street  he  dressed  at 
"  the  highest  notch  of  fashion."  An  old  printer's 
devil,  who  once  waited  at  his  elbow  for  "  copy,"  re 
calls  a  morning  in  May  when  Dennie  sat  at  his  desk 
in  a  pea-green  coat,  a  white  vest  and  nankin  small 
clothes,  tied  at  the  knees  with  long  bows  of  colored  rib- 


THE  PORT  FOLIO  183 

bon.  His  lower  limbs  were  grandly  swathed  in  white 
silk  stockings  and  upon  his  feet  were  pumps  ornamented 
with  great  silver  shoe  buckles.  His  hair  was  pow 
dered,  frizzed  and  made  heavy  with  pomatum,  while 
adown  his  back  hung  a  false  tail  or  queue  wrapped  in 
yards  of  black  silk. 

His  death  came  on  January  7,  1812,  at  the  age  of 
forty-four.  He  had  long  struggled  with  ill-health, 
misfortune  and  broken  credit.  He  had  aimed  to  serve 
only  "  the  most  illustrious  descriptions  of  American  so 
ciety —  the  liberal,  the  ladies,  the  lawyers,  the  clergy, 
and  all  the  gentlemen  and  cavaliers  of  Columbia,"  and 
they  alone  grieved  at  his  departure.  He  was  interred 
in  St.  Peter's  Church-yard,  where  his  friends  placed  a 
column  over  his  grave.  The  inscription  on  the  stone, 
said  to  have  been  written  by  John  Quincy  Adams, 
runs: — 

"  Endowed  with  talent  and  qualified  by  education 

To  adorn  the  Senate  and  the  Bar; 
But  following  the  impulse  of  a  genius 

Formed  for  converse  with  the  muses, 
He  devoted  his  life  to  the  literature  of  his  country. 

As  author  of  the  Lay  Preacher, 
And  as  first  editor  of  the  Port  Folio, 
He  contributed  to  chasten  the  morals  and  to 

Refine  the  taste  of  this  nation. 
To  an  imagination  lively,  not  licentious, 

A  wit  sportive,  not  wanton, 
And  a  heart  without  guile,  he 
United  a  deep  sensibility,  which  endeared 

Him  to  his  friends,  and  an  ardent  piety 
Which  we  humbly  trust  recommended  him 
To  his  God." 


184  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

The  members  of  the  group  who  had  assisted  in  sup 
porting  the  "  Port  Folio  "  in  Dennie's  lifetime  were 
determined  that  after  his  death  the  magazine  should 
continue  upon  its  course  as  the  representative  of  higher 
literary  ideals.  Paul  Allen,  born  in  Providence  in 
111S'>  a  graduate  of  Brown  University,  had  come  to 
Philadelphia  shortly  before  Dennie  relinquished  his  in 
secure  hold  upon  life,  to  assist  the  editor,  but  he  was 
indolent  and  impecunious  and  was  allowed  to  pass  on 
to  Baltimore,  where  he  led  a  varied  career  as  a  news 
paper  editor.  Nicholas  Biddle  was  soon  selected  for 
Dennie's  post.  A  handsome  and  brilliant  young 
Philadelphian,  who  had  been  ready  to  graduate  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  when  only  thirteen  years 
of  age,  he  was  still  little  more  than  twenty-five.  The 
principal  subject  of  his  interest  was  the  fine  arts,  and  he 
contributed  to  the  magazine  a  number  of  biographical 
and  critical  papers  on  the  old  masters.  But  already  in 
the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania  he  was  being  swept  into 
that  political  career  which  was  to  culminate  in  the  mem 
orable  contest  with  Andrew  Jackson  over  the  United 
States  Bank,  and  early  in  1814  Dr.  Charles  Caldwell 
was  invited  by  the  publisher  of  the  "  Port  Folio  "  to 
undertake  the  editorship.  He  entered  upon  his  tasks 
at  once  and  continued  in  the  place  until  the  end  of  1815, 
when  financial  disasters  led  to  another  change  of  pro 
prietors. 

Caldwell  was  a  tall,  fine-looking  North  Carolinian. 
He  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1792,  when  about  twenty 
years  of  age,  to  study  medicine,  and  aspired  to  be  the 
rival  of  Rush,  Barton  and  Wistar  in  the  University's 
medical  faculty,  a  \vish  that,  owing  to  his  disputatious 
manner,  was  not  to  be  gratified.  He  was  a  careful 


THE  PORT  FOLIO  185 

student  of  the  yellow  fever  epidemics,  frequently  cross 
ing  swords  with  Doctor  Rush.  Thrice  he  himself  was 
attacked  with  the  disease  —  none  escaped  —  all  his 
teeth  rotting  in  their  gums  after  he  was  dosed  with 
Rush's  mercury.  As  a  scientist  he  gained  a  good  deal 
of  repute,  in  spite  of  his  flirtations  with,  phrenology,  and 
he  was  gifted  besides  as  an  orator  and  a  writer  upon 
a  great  variety  of  subjects.  As  the  editor  of  the  u  Port 
Folio  "  he  particularly  strove  to  obtain  full  reports  of 
military  movements  on  land  and  sea  during  the  War 
of  1812,  and  through  his  friendship  with  many  officers 
was  successful  to  'such  an  extent  that  they  reported  their 
movements  to  him  as  regularly  as  to  the  War  and  Navy 
Departments  at  Washington.  General  Jacob  Brown, 
"  the  fighting  Quaker  schoolmaster,"  a  native  of  Bucks 
County,  who  had  conducted  att"invasion  of  Canada,  at 
the  time  a  great  popular  hero,  was  a  devoted  corre 
spondent  of  the  "  Port  Folio." 

Among  Dr.  Caldwell's  assistants  in  the  editorship 
of  the  magazine  was  Dr.  Thomas  Cooper,  a  friend  of 
Dr.  Priestley,  whom  he  had  followed  to  this  country 
from  England.  Like  Priestley,  Cooper  was  a  chemist, 
and  like  him,  too,  held  Jacobinical  views.  Going  to 
France,  he  had  been  a  member  for  a  time  of  the  Na 
tional  Assembly  until  a  personal  rencontre  with  Robes 
pierre  forced  him  to  flee  the  country.  For  three  years 
he  had  been  professor  of  chemistry  in  Dickinson  Col 
lege,  and  afterward  came  to  Philadelphia,  soon  to  take 
a  similar  place  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Although  a  professorship  of  geology  and  the  philos 
ophy  of  natural  history  had  now  been  created  for  Dr. 
Caldwell  in  the  new  "  Faculty  of  Physical  Sciences  " 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  he  was  ready  to 


i86  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

leave  Philadelphia.  The  city,  he  believed,  had  not 
done  so  well  by  him  as  his  talents  deserved,  and  with 
several  offers  at  his  hand  he,  in  1819,  accepted  an  in 
vitation  to  establish  a  medical  school  in  the  Mississippi 
valley,  at  Transylvania  University  in  Lexington,  Ky. 
Later  he  removed  to  Louisville  and  died  there  in  1853. 
Dr.  Cooper  found  his  way  to  Columbia  College,  South 
Carolina,  of  which  he  rose  to  be  president.  He  and 
Cooper  were  the  first,  says  Caldwell,  in  some  pride  in 
his  interesting  autobiography,  "  that  had  the  independ 
ence  and  enterprise  to  sever  an  official  connection  with 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  issue  from  that 
medical  emporium  for  the  express  purpose  of  establish 
ing  schools  of  medicine  in  the  other  parts  of  the  United 
States." 

At  the  end  of  Caldwell's  editorship  of  the  "  Port 
Folio,"  that  magazine  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Halls  —  there  were  three  or  four  brothers  —  to  re 
ceive  the  particular  direction  of  John  E.  Hall.  Ever 
since  Dennie's  death  it  had  continued  to  be  edited  by 
"Oliver  Oldschool,  Esq.,"  and  Hall  called  himself 
"  Oliver  Oldschool,  the  Fourth."  His  mother  was 
Sarah  Hall,  a  daughter  of  Provost  Ewing  of  the  Uni 
versity  of  Pennsylvania,  she  herself  being  the  author  of 
a  popular  and  much  read  book,  "  Conversations  on  the 
Bible,"  and  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  "  Port  Folio." 
John  E.  Hall  was  born  in  1783.  He  was  educated  at 
Princeton  and  read  law  in  Philadelphia  under  Judge 
Hopkinson.  He  practised  for  a  time  at  Baltimore  and 
was  a  leading  character  in  the  riot  at  the  house  of  Alex 
ander  C.  Hanson  in  1812.  Hanson,  the  editor  of  a 
Federalist  newspaper,  Hall  and  several  other  Feder 
alists  were  attacked  by  a  mob.  After  a  successful  dc- 


IS 

i   ~ 

g  2 
«.•  w 
S'  n 

^ 

^ 


THE  PORT  FOLIO  187 

fence  they  surrendered  themselves  to  the  sheriff,  who 
placed  them  in  the  jail  for  safe  keeping.  There  they 
were  attacked  again  and  Hall  was  one  of  nine  whom 
the  ruffians  threw  in  a  pile  and  left  for  dead.  This  ex 
perience  caused  him  to  leave  Baltimore.  For  nine 
years  he  had  edited  the  "  American  Law  Journal  "  and, 
a  deeply  interested  student  of  literature  as  well  as  a 
graceful  writer,  he  took  charge  of  the  "  Port  Folio  " 
at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1816. 

The  success  which  attended  the  journal  was  still  not 
large.  For  no  publication  were  there  many  readers. 
In  1810  there  were  nine  daily  papers  in  Philadelphia, 
but  Judge  Hopkinson  computed  that  they  all  together 
circulated  not  more  than  15,000  copies.  For  literary 
journals  there  was  proportionately  less  encourage 
ment.  The  magazine  continued  to  appear  each  month, 
however,  until  1820,  when  it  was  converted  into 
a  quarterly,  patterned  after  the  large  British  reviews. 
Each  number  contained  upwards  of  250  pages  octavo. 
Later  there  was  a  return  to  monthly  issues,  but  in  De 
cember,  1825,  the  editor  determined  to  suspend  the 
work. 

Many  of  the  subscribers  who  had  been  receiving  the 
magazine  for  years  did  not  contribute  one  cent  to  its 
support.  In  vain  did  the  editor  remind  them  that 
"  several  thousand  copies  of  a  monthly  magazine  in 
London  are  paid  for  before  the  sheets  are  dry  from  the 
press."  The  people  were  asked  to  remove  this  "  stigma 
from  our  national  literature."  But  the  stigma  re 
mained.  For  the  first  six  months  of  1826  the  "  Port 
Folio  "  did  not  appear,  although  in  July  of  that  year 
Mr.  Hall  projected  a  new  series  which,  because  of  his 
declining  health  and  the  paltry  financial  encouragement 


i88  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

he  received,  was  suspended  finally  in  1827.  He  died 
in  1829. 

Such  was  the  career  of  one  of  the  most  famous  of 
all  the  periodical  publications  of  America.  From  be 
ginning  to  end  it  had  served  the  country  well  without 
shadow  of  turning  from  the  straight  and  narrow  way. 
Its  ideals  were  always  high,  its  services  to  letters  in  the 
United  States  signally  honorable.  Under  Dennie  it 
had  been  brilliant,  and  under  those  who  followed  him 
always  good.  When  it  could  be  that  no  longer  the 
"  Port  Folio  "  was  "  locked  up,"  the  fate  which  its 
first  editor  would  have  wished  for  it  in  that  event. 

"  Politics  and  plans  of  practical  utility  now  engross 
the  public  mind  almost  to  the  exclusion  of  native  litera 
ture,"  Oliver  Oldschool,  the  Fourth  complained  in 
1825.  It  was  the  age  of  Andrew  Jackson,  when  em 
pire  was  invading  the  west  and  democracy,  made  fluid, 
was  to  be  cast  in  another  and  a  larger  mould.  Reading 
was  to  be  a  pastime  for  Dennie's  despised  "  million," 
and  Philadelphia's  publishers  and  authors  were  also  to 
be  the  leaders  in  this  new  movement  to  bring  books  and 
magazines  to  the  ken  of  growing  numbers  of  men. 


CHAPTER  VI 

IN  TRANSITION 

Descending  through  Franklin's  Junto,  Mrs.  Fergu 
son's  Saturday  Evenings,  and  Dennie's  Tuesday  Club, 
we  come  into  the  presence  of  Robert  Walsh's  Soirees 
and  the  famous  Wistar  Parties.  If  Charles  Brockden 
Brown  and  Joseph  Dennie  were  at  their  time  the  only 
men  in  America  who  had  yet  depended  upon  letters  for 
their  bread  and  butter,  others  were  coming  on  to  tempt 
the  Fates  —  for  love  of  literature  to  content  themselves 
with  its  meagre  rewards.  Most  of  the  writers  in  Den 
nie's  group  were  young  dilettante  who  were  to  achieve 
their  principal  successes  in  other  fields,  as  in  law,  states 
manship  or  medicine.  Such  were  Nicholas  Biddle, 
Richard  Rush,  Nathaniel  Chapman,  Horace  Binney, 
and  Charles  Jared  Ingersoll.  Robert  Walsh  was  of 
another  class,  and  while  fortunately  he  need  not  solely 
rely  upon  his  pen  for  a  living,  he  was  by  profession  a 
literary  man. 

While  Dennie's  was  a  somewhat  careless  company, 
Walsh  drew  about  him  the  more  serious  culture  of  the 
city.  Statesmen,  bishops,  foreign  ministers  and 
savants  revolved  in  his  circle.  Writing  and  conversa 
tion  with  him  were  highly  responsible  pursuits,  and  the 
lighter  view  of  life  taken  by  Dennie,  Tom  Moore  and 
a  later  English  invader  of  Philadelphia's  literary  group, 
William  Makepeace  Thackeray,  was  not  for  Mr. 
Walsh.  This  elegant  gentleman  and  polished  littera- 

189 


LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

teur  was  born  in  Baltimore  in  1785.  He  was  the  son 
of  an  Irish  peer,  Count  Walsh  and  Baron  Shannon,  by 
a  Pennsylvania  Quakeress,  and  at  his  father's  death 
might  have  assumed  these  titles.  He,  however,  ab 
jured  the  marks  of  a  noble  lineage,  being  happy  to  be 
regarded  as  the  citizen  of  a  democratic  nation,  which 
he  for  a  long  time  endeavored  to  improve  and  civilize. 
He  was  educated  at  Catholic  colleges  in  Baltimore  and 
Washington  and  always  remained  true  to  the  faith  of 
his  ancestors.  For  years,  as  a  young  man,  he  travelled 
and  studied  in  Europe  and  came  back  to  be  a  lawyer  in 
Philadelphia,  where  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  about 
1808.  Deafness  prevented  him  from  practising  the 
profession  he  had  embraced,  whereupon  he  found  solac 
ing  employment  in  his  pen.  He  wrote  frequently  for 
the  "Port  Folio, "  and  in  1811  published  a  pamphlet 
of  the  proportions  of  a  large  book,  his  "  Letter  on  the 
Genius  and  Dispositions  of  the  French  Government." 
At  the  moment  of  its  appearance,  public  sensibilities 
were  highly  wrought  up  over  international  questions 
and  American  sympathy  for  France,  to  the  disadvan 
tage  of  Great  Britain,  was  still  running  in  a  current  of 
dangerous  strength.  Never  before  had  Napoleon  been 
handled  so  vigorously.  The  book  was  a  strong  protest, 
in  fine  diction,  against  the  desolation  of  Europe,  and  it 
at  once  aroused  deep  and  general  attention  in  England, 
as  in  this  country.  It  passed  through  twelve  editions 
in  six  weeks  in  London,  so  eager  were  English  readers 
to  peruse  it.  "  We  must  learn  to  love  the  Americans 
when  they  send  us  such  books  as  this,"  wrote  Jeffrey,  the 
critical  autocrat  of  the  day  in  Great  Britain. 

About  this  time,  in  January,  1811,  Walsh  projected 
his  "  American   Review  of  History  and  Politics,  and 


IN  TRANSITION  191 

General  Repository  of  Literature  and  State  Papers," 
the  first  quarterly  journal  to  appear  in  the  United  States. 
Dana  and  his  friends  did  not  secure  control  of  the  re 
cently  founded  "  North  American  Review  "  at  Boston 
to  launch  it  on  its  famous  career  until  1815,  and  the 
"  Port  Folio  "  was  not  ready  to  begin  its  brief  life  as 
a  quarterly  until  1820.  Walsh's  quarterly  was  pub 
lished  by  Farrand  and  Nicholas,  and  its  chief  ends, 
"  to  which  the  most  indefatigable  attention  will  be  given 
and  for  which  ample  resources  will  be  provided,"  the 
prospectus  ran,  "  are  the  propagation  of  sound  political 
doctrines  and  the  direction  and  improvement  of  the 
literary  taste  of  the  American  people."  It  must  be  said 
to  his  honor  that  the  editor  kept  this  high  purpose  con 
stantly  in  view.  The  leading  article  in  the  first  number 
concerned  the  relations  of  the  United  States  and  France, 
and  it  alone  filled  eighty-eight  closely  printed  pages 
written  by  the  editor,  who  also  contributed  to  his  mag 
azine  a  series  of  letters  on  France  and  England,  extend 
ing  through  several  issues,  and  based  upon  the  knowl 
edge  he  had  gained  during  his  recent  residence  in  those 
countries.  These  essays  upon  higher  political,  espe 
cially  international,  matters,  were  printed  side  by  side 
with  long  and  exhaustive  reviews  of  the  principal  new 
literary  works,  whether  in  English  or  foreign  languages. 
All  were  learnedly  considered.  Among  the  works  thus 
brought  under  review  were  Carlo  Botta's  "  History  of 
Our  War  of  Independence "  in  Italian,  "  Kotzebue's 
"  History  of  Prussia  "  and  Goethe's  novel,  "  Die  Wahl- 
verwandtschaften  "  in  German;  together  with  many  new 
French  publications.  Scott's  "  Lady  of  the  Lake,"  of 
which  a  Philadelphia  publisher  sold  one  thousand  copies 
in  a  few  weeks,  so  popular  were  the  author's  poems  in 


I92  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

America  at  that  time,  and  Dugald  Stewart's  essays  were 
reviewed  appreciatively  and  at  length.  Alexander 
Hamilton's  works,  which  had  just  been  compiled,  were 
the  subject  of  two  long  articles  in  the  "  Review."  In 
addition  to  about  two  hundred  pages  of  original  mat 
ter,  Mr.  Walsh  gave  his  subscribers,  in  an  appendix*  to 
each  number,  sixty  to  one  hundred  pages  of  state  pa 
pers,  lately  issued  by  the  principal  governments  of  the 
world,  involving  laborious  translation  from  foreign 
languages.  The  editor  complained  less  of  the  lack  of 
subscribers  than  of  the  difficulty  he  experienced  in  find 
ing  contributors  for  his  review.  Nevertheless,  the  pub 
lishers  failed  late  in  1812  and  Mr.  Walsh  was  obliged 
to  put  out  the  eighth  and  last  number  of  his  quarterly 
at  his  own  expense,  thus  ending  his  literary  experiment, 
though  not  without  the  promise  of  returning  to  it  soon 
with  new  vigor. 

In  1817  he  issued  the  "American  Register  or  Sum 
mary  Review  of  History  and  Politics  and  Literature," 
an  annual  review  like  Charles  Brockden  Brown's  pub 
lication  of  a  similar  name.  It  appeared  for  two  years. 
Mr.  Walsh  was  now  compiling  and  writing  the  per 
sonal  sketches  to  accompany  an  edition  of  the  English 
poets  in  fifty  small  volumes,  a  work  projected  by  a 
Philadelphia  publishing  house,  and  in  1819  brought 
out  his  "  Appeal  from  the  Judgments  of  Great  Britain 
Respecting  the  United  States  of  America."  In  his 
quarterly  magazine  he  had  been  instant  in  and  out  of 
season  in  his  efforts  to  defend  America  against  the  mis 
representation  and  supercilious  criticism  of  Englishmen. 
His  interest  in  this  direction  finally  led  him  to  write  a 
large  volume  which  took  the  form  of  a  history  of  the 
"  political  and  mercantile  jealousy  of  Great  Britain," 


ROBERT    WALSH 

From  a  portrait  in  possession  of  his  grandson,  Dr.  J.  F.   Walsh 


IN  TRANSITION  193 

the  rise  and  development  of  the  American  colonies,  the 
establishment  of  separate  government  on  this  continent, 
with  an  examination  of  various  attacks  upon  American 
taste,  character,  customs  and  aspirations,  and  the 
grounds  upon  which  they  were  based.  The  work  at 
tracted  a  vast  amount  of  attention,  and  for  it  Mr. 
Walsh  was  publicly  and  privately  congratulated.  He 
received  personal  letters  from  Thomas  Jefferson,  John 
Adams,  John  Quincy  Adams  and  other  eminent  char 
acters.  Some  of  the  historical  matter  which  he  assem 
bled  is  said  to  have  suggested  to  Longfellow  the  writing 
of  "  Evangeline." 

In  1820,  when  public  excitement  over  the  Missouri 
Compromise  had  reached  some  height,  a  group  of  gen 
tlemen  headed  by  Roberts  Vaux,  a  prominent  lawyer 
and  anti-slavery  advocate,  induced  Mr.  Walsh  to  form 
a  partnership  with  William  Fry,  the  bookseller,  for  the 
publication  of  a  newspaper,  the  "  National  Gazette  and 
Literary  Register."  Poulson's  "  Advertiser,"  the  prin 
cipal  paper  of  the  city,  was  neutral  on  this  absorbing 
question  and  the  need  of  an  outspoken  organ  was  keenly 
felt.  For  a  few  months  it  was  published  twice  a  week, 
and  after  November  i,  1820,  daily,  in  the  evening.  It 
was  said  of  Walsh's  "  Gazette  "  that  u  for  the  union  of 
political  sagacity  and  independence,  with  literary  ful 
ness,  taste  and  skill,"  it  had  not  been  surpassed  in  Amer 
ica.  Indeed,  no  publication  which  its  editor  served 
could  fail  to  reflect  a  high  critical  sense  in  the  treatment 
of  political  and  literary  questions. 

Mr.  Walsh  was  connected  with  the  "  Gazette  "  for 
fifteen  years,  or  until  about  1835,  when  he  went  abroad, 
the  paper  being  merged  at  length  with  the  Philadelphia 
"  Inquirer.'' 


194  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

In  the  meantime,  in  1822,  Mr.  Walsh  was  identified 
with  another  adventure  in  letters.  He  undertook  to 
compile  for  the  publisher,  Eliakim  Littell,  in  Chestnut 
Street,  the  u  Museum  of  Foreign  Literature  and  Sci 
ence,"  a  monthly  budget  of  about  one  hundred  pages  of 
articles  taken  from  the  best  British  reviews  and  maga 
zines.  It  was  issued  for  more  than  twenty  years,  al 
though  Walsh's  connection  with  it  was  brief  —  being 
taken  at  length  to  New  York.  Littell  himself  removed 
to  Boston,  where  he  started  a  similar  eclectic  publica 
tion,  u  Littell's  Living  Age,"  long  and  favorably  known 
in  the  literary  homes  of  America. 

Mr.  Walsh  now  found  the  occasion  to  resuscitate  his 
quarterly  magazine.  In  1827  Carey  and  Lea  began  to 
issue  under  his  direction  the  u  American  Quarterly  Re 
view."  Like  its  less  fortunate  precursor  of  1811  and 
1812,  it  was  a  quarterly  collection  of  high-minded  essays 
upon  political  and  literary  topics.  A  book,  or  group  of 
books,  recently  issued  by  the  American,  English  or  Con 
tinental  presses,  formed  the  text  for  the  writers  who  in 
these  pages  carried  criticism  to  a  higher  point  than  it  had 
reached  before  or  has  ever  reached  since  in  this  city. 
Carey  continued  to  publish  the  Philadelphia  quarterly 
until  1834,  when  Walsh  seems  to  have  left  it  also. 
Subsequently  it  had  several  editors  and  no  less  than 
three  publishers,  ceasing  to  appear  after  1837.  Al 
though  when  near  the  end  of  its  days  it  was  at  times 
somewhat  irresponsible  and  ribald  in  its  judgments,  the 
series  —  in  these  eleven  years  forty-four  numbers,  mak 
ing  twenty-two  large  volumes,  appeared  —  is  a  contri 
bution  to  American  critical  literature  of  lasting  impor 
tance. 

Bodily  infirmities  barred  Mr.  Walsh  from  many  en- 


AMERICAN  QUARTERLY  REVIEW. 

No.  I. 

MARCH,  1827 

ART.  I.—  AMERICAN  BIOGRAPHY. 

American  Biographical  and  Historical  Diction 
ary,  Sec.  By  WILLIAM  ALLEN,  A.  M..--  Cambridge, 
(Mass.)  1809. 

Biographical  Dictionary,  containing  a  Brief  *ftc- 
count  of  the  First  Settlers,  and  other  Eminent  Cha 
racters  in  New-England.  By  JOHN  ELIOT,  I).  D. 

3. — Delaplaine's  Repository  of  Ike  Lives  and  PorJtaits  of 
Distinguished  Americans.  Philadelphia.  *1817. 

"L — Biograplvy  of  the  Signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence.  By  JOHN  SANDERSON.  6  vols.  Philadelphia. 
1820-4. 

3. — Biographical  Sketches,  of  eminent  Lawyers,  States- 
men,  and  Men  of  Letters.  By  SAMUEL  L.  KNAPP. 
Boston.  1821. 

6. — Ji  New  American  Biographical  Dictionary  ;  or,  Re 
membrancer  of  the  Departed  Heroes,  Sages,  and 
Statesmen  of  America.  Compiled  by  THOMAS  •  J. 
RODGER*.  Third  edition.  Easton,  (Penn.)  1824. 

WE  do  not  know  that  better  ideas  of  the  true  nature  and  ex 
cellence  of  BIOGRAPHY  are  any  where  to  be  found, — much 
as  has  been  written  on  those  topics — than  in  Drydcn's  Notice 
of  Plutarch,  prefixed  to  the  version  of  Plutarch's  Lives, 
which  was  published  in  London  near  the  end  of  the.  seven 
teenth  century,  and  on  which  forty-one  translators  Mad  been 
L — NO-  U  2 


FIRST  PAGE  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME  OF  WALSH'S  "  QUARTERLY  " 


196  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

joyments,  but  music  was  a  passion  with  him  through  life. 
His  deafness  did  not  prevent  him  from  deriving  keen 
pleasure  from  his  musical  soirees,  at  which  were  gath 
ered  together  men  so  varied  in  their  interests  and  feel 
ings  as  the  Episcopal  Bishop  White,  the  Roman  Catholic 
Bishop  Cheverus,  William  Ellery  Channing  when  he 
came  to  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Duponceau,  Mr.  Biddle,  Dr. 
Nathaniel  Chapman,  and  chosen  spirits  from  the  group 
that  sustained  the  Wistar  Parties.  Of  the  soirees  a 
friend  said  that  "  not  to  know  them  was  to  be  yourself 
unknown."  Walsh's  home  was  long  the  meeting- 
ground  for  intellectuels  of  all  varieties.  Some  of  the 
foreign  ministers  continued  to  live  in  Philadelphia,  al 
though  the  principal  legations  had  been  removed  to 
Washington.  Many  found  their  way  into  his  circle. 
New  Englanders  visiting  the  city  met  a  most  hospitable 
host.  "  To  smatter  French  and  thrum  the  piano  used 
to  be  the  standard  of  education  in  the  city  of  Brotherly 
Love,"  said  the  Boston  u  Transcript  "  rather  supercili 
ously.  Here  other  ideals  were  cultivated.  '*  What  of 
the  genuine  literary  tone,  feeling,  taste  and  knowledge 
Philadelphia  could  boast  either  in  her  society,  her  press, 
or  her  hospitality,"  continued  the  "  Transcript,"  "  was 
long  centred  in  the  person,  the  writings  and  the  home 
of  Robert  Walsh." 

Such  sneers  were  not  well  deserved,  as  may  be  guessed 
by  any  one  who  has  read  this  work  up  to  the  present 
point.  Philadelphia,  in  truth,  as  the  New  York  u  Trib 
une  "  observed  when  reviewing  Walsh's  life,  was  at  the 
time  "  the  centre  of  commerce,  finance,  letters  and  sci 
ence  of  the  Union."  It  was  with  Philadelphia's  active 
and  enterprising  publishers  that  he  found  employment 
for  his  active  mind.  He  was  "  a  literary  and  historical 


IN  TRANSITION  197 

link,"  wrote  William  Henry  Fry,  the  composer  and 
musical  critic,  between  Jefferson,  Madison  and  Hamil 
ton,  and  the  great  figures  of  a  newer  age  just  beginning 
to  loom  indistinctly  and  uncertainly  in  the  mists. 

The  times  were  not  growing  better  for  aristocrats, 
and  by  his  political  writings  Mr.  Walsh  made  enemies 
who  were  as  ribald  in  their  abuse  of  the  substantial 
group  to  which  he  belonged  as  Paine,  Bache,  Duane  or 
Freneau  had  ever  been. 

Deficient  in  imagination  and  not  ready  of  speech,  it 
was  said  that  his  deafness  was  an  affectation,  so  that  he 
could  hide  his  "  incapacity  of  repartee  "  at  the  Wistar 
Parties.  "  The  dividend  aristocracy  had  died  off  rap 
idly  and  left  no  issue,"  whereupon  Mr.  Walsh,  selling 
his  interest  in  his  newspaper  to  his  partner,  William  Fry, 
"  one  of  the  party  of  the  old  income  aristocrats  living 
on  rents  and  dividends  and  luxuriating  on  literature  and 
the  rose  water  smell  of  the  British  constitution,"  left 
Philadelphia  about  1835  to  make  his  home  in  future  in 
Paris.  There  again  he  was  the  centre  of  a  literary 
group,  which  included  Guizot,  Thiers,  Dupin,  Michel 
Chevalier,  and  many  distinguished  and  scholarly  French 
men.  Eminent  Americans,  travelling  abroad,  found  a 
warm  welcome  at  his  hearth  and  fireside.  In  1845 
President  Tyler,  at  the  friendly  instigation  of  Nicholas 
Biddle  and  Daniel  Webster,  appointed  him  Consul-Gen 
eral  of  the  United  States  in  Paris,  and  he  held  the  office 
through  the  administrations  of  Polk  and  Taylor,  to  be 
removed  by  Fillmore,  because  of  some  statements  in  the 
newspapers  for  which  he  continued  regularly  to  corre 
spond.  He  died  in  1858,  having  for  seventy-five  years 
kept  alive  his  frail  body  by  his  remarkably  zestful  in 
tellect.  Probably  no  American  of  his  age  knew  inti- 


198  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

mately  so  many  celebrated  men  and  women  in  so  many 
different  lands. 

The  Wistar  Parties  extended  over  the  same  gen 
eral  period  covered  by  Dennie's  Tuesday  Club  and 
Walsh's  Soirees  and  were  continued  long  after  the  death 
of  him  who  gave  them  life,  having  been  revived,  indeed, 
at  a  recent  date  after  an  era  of  desuetude.  Philadel 
phia's  pre-eminence  as  a  scientific  centre,  not  only  in  med 
icine  but  also  in  various  departments  of  natural  history, 
was  widely  acknowledged.  The  most  remarkable  name 
in  the  history  of  medicine  in  Philadelphia  after  Dr. 
Rush,  is  that  of  Dr.  Caspar  Wistar.  Two  brothers, 
Richard  and  Caspar,  descendants  of  a  German  Quaker 
who  settled  in  Philadelphia  in  1717,  attained  to  prom 
inence,  Richard  as  a  merchant,  Caspar  in  science.  The 
latter  is  said  to  have  felt  his  attraction  to  medicine  by 
observing  the  unrelieved  sufferings  of  the  wounded  sol 
diers  after  the  battle  of  Germantown.  Completing  his 
course  in  the  Medical  Department  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  he  went  abroad  to  pursue  his  studies  at 
London  and  Edinburgh,  and  took  his  degree  at  the 
Scottish  university  in  1786.  Upon  his  return  to  Amer 
ica  he  became  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  College  of 
Philadelphia.  When  it  joined  the  University  of  Penn 
sylvania  he  was  appointed  an  associate  professor  of  anat 
omy,  and  at  the  death  of  Dr.  Shippen  in  1808  he  was 
made  a  full  professor  of  a  subject  in  which  he  was  one 
of  the  highest  authorities  of  his  time.  His  principal 
published  work  was  his  "  System  of  Anatomy,"  said  to 
have  been  the  first  American  treatise  on  that  branch 
of  medical  science.  As  a  teacher  and  a  practitioner,  he 
enjoyed  equal  renown.  He  was  a  Vice-President  of  the 
American  Philosophical  Society  from  1795  until  1815, 


IN  TRANSITION  199 

when  he  succeeded  Thomas  Jefferson  as  President,  hold 
ing  that  post  until  his  early  death  in  1818. 

During  his  illness  so  many  people  called  at  the  house 
to  inquire  for  him  that  the  physicians  in  attendance 
were  obliged  to  issue  bulletins  and  place  them  upon  the 
table  in  the  hall.  "  The  crowd  that  formed  his  funeral 
procession/'  we  are  told,  "  might  be  almost  pronounced 
the  population  of  Philadelphia."  Dr.  Charles  Cald- 
well  perhaps  judged  him  justly  when  he  wrote :  "  Dr. 
Wistar  did  not  possess  talents  of  the  very  highest  order, 
yet  did  he  employ  them  with  such  dexterity  and  im- 
pressiveness  as  to  produce  effects  which  were  rarely 
reached,  and  in  the  same  sphere  and  under  like  circum 
stances  never  surpassed  by  men  of  the  highest  and  hap 
piest  talents." 

Dr.  Wistar  resided  at  the  south-west  corner  of  Fourth 
and  Locust  Streets,  where  he  received  his  friends  on 
Sunday  evenings.  Once  a  week  from  November  until 
April  from  fifteen  to  thirty  persons  gathered  at  his  house, 
the  time  of  meeting  being  changed  in  1811  from  Sun 
day  to  Saturday.  After  his  death  the  members  of  the 
group,  unwilling  to  abandon  the  pleasures  of  weekly 
intercourse,  formed  a  kind  of  association  and  the  "  par 
ties  "  were  held  at  uncertain  times  at  their  various 
homes.  Subsequently  for  many  years  invitations  con 
taining  Wistar's  portrait,  which  Thackeray,  after  at 
tending  a  meeting,  remembered  as  the  "  hospitable  pig- 
tailed  shade,"  were  received  by  the  literati  of  America 
and  Europe  when  they  visited  the  city.  At  various 
times  Alexander  von  Humboldt  on  his  return  from 
South  America;  General  Jean  Victor  Moreau,  held  to 
be  the  greatest  general  in  France  after  Bonaparte,  and 
who  lived  for  a  time  in  Philadelphia  and  in  Robert 


200  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Morris's  house  at  Morrisville,  Pa.,  later  to  return  to 
Europe  to  be  killed  in  the  battle  of  Dresden;  Prince 
Murat,  son  of  Napoleon's  King  of  the  Sicilies;  the  Duke 
of  Saxe-Weimar;  Thomas  Moore,  when  he  was  enjoy 
ing  the  society  of  Dennie;  James  Madison,  Le  Sueur, 
the  French  naturalist;  John  Quincy  Adams;  Commodore 
Barron;  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton;  Charles  Lucien 
Bonaparte;  the  Prince  de  Canino  and  Musignano;  Gen- 
erino  Persico,  the  sculptor;  and  a  great  number  of  na 
tive  and  foreign  dignitaries,  European  travellers  and 
refugees,  were  entertained  by  the  club,  which  was  made 
up  for  the  most  part  of  active  members  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society.  The  local  group  included  the 
more  prominent  of  Dennie's  literary  friends :  Robert 
Walsh,  Judge  Hopkinson,  William  Meredith,  Horace 
Binney,  Charles  Jared  Ingersoll,  a  substantial  company 
gleaned  from  the  bar,  the  university  and  the  highways 
and  byways  of  learning,  changing  as  the  years  passed 
and  new  men  came  forward  to  direct  the  city's  intel 
lectual  life,  bringing  into  its  fold  Mathew  and  Henry 
C.  Carey,  Alexander  James  Dallas,  the  Baches,  Charles 
Willson  Peale,  Dr.  George  B.  Wood,  Judge  Kane,  Dr. 
Isaac  Hayes,  Dr.  Robert  Hare,  Langdon  Cheves,  the 
South  Carolina  statesman  who  lived  for  a  time  in  Phila 
delphia,  while  President  of  the  United  States  Bank,  and 
afterward  in  Lancaster;  Dr.  R.  M.  Patterson,  Dr. 
W.  H.  Furness,  Isaac  Lea,  William  Tilghman,  Bronson 
Alcott,  Thomas  Nuttall,  Thomas  Say,  Correa  da  Serra, 
and  many  others. 

Wistar  did  not  stand  alone  in  this  period  to  orna 
ment  and  dignify  the  science  of  medicine.  There  were 
also  Dr.  Philip  Syng  Physick  and  Dr.  Nathaniel  Chap 
man. 


IN  TRANSITION  201 

Physick  is  often  and  justly  called  "  the  father  of 
American  surgery."  Born  in  Philadelphia  in  1768,  he 
studied  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  later  in 
London  under  the  celebrated  John  Hunter.  Like  Wis- 
tar,  he  graduated  at  Edinburgh  (1792),  whereupon  he 
returned  to  Philadelphia  to  practice  his  profession.  In 
1805  a  chair  in  surgery  was  created  for  him  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  with  which  institution  he 
was  prominently  connected,  until  in  1831  failing  health 
compelled  him  to  retire  from  his  place. 

Physick's  contemporary,  Chapman,  was  descended 
from  an  old  Virginia  family.  He  came  to  Philadelphia 
in  1797  to  study  under  Dr.  Rush,  and  later  went  abroad 
to  attend  the  lectures  at  Edinburgh,  then  the  most  fa 
mous  of  British  medical  schools.  Upon  his  return,  he 
settled  in  Philadelphia,  entered  the  faculty  of  the  Uni 
versity  of  Pennsylvania  in  1813,  and  held  a  professor 
ship  there  for  forty  years,  or  until  his  death  in  1853. 
While  Physick  shunned  society,  being,  as  Dr.  Caldwell 
said,  "  one  of  the  most  single-hearted  and  unostenta 
tious  of  men,"  Chapman  was  noted  for  his  sociability, 
courtliness  and  wit.  He  wrote  in  the  general  field  of 
literature  as  well  as  in  his  own  branches  of  science. 
For  a  number  of  years  he  was  President  of  the  Amer 
ican  Philosophical  Society,  and  held  many  posts  which 
identified  him  with  the  city. 

In  natural  history,  the  period  connects  Philadelphia 
with  the  names  of  Ord,  Bonaparte,  Audubon,  Say,  Nut- 
tall  and  Darlington. 

George  Ord  and  Charles  Lucien  Bonaparte  were  or 
nithologists  whose  work  closely  joins  their  careers  with 
Alexander  Wilson's.  Ord  was  a  native  of  Philadel 
phia  and  died  there  in  1866,  at  eighty-five  years  of  age. 


202  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

The  companion  of  Wilson  on  many  rambles  and  quests, 
he  completed  the  volumes  left  unfinished  by  that  eminent 
naturalist,  later  issuing  a  biography  of  his  master  and 
friend. 

Bonaparte  went  farther  and  described  and  pictured 
many  species  of  American  birds  which  had  not  been 
met  with  by  Wilson  in  his  travels.  The  son  of  .Lucien 
Bonaparte,  brother  of  Napoleon,  he  married  his  cousin, 
a  daughter  of  Joseph  Bonaparte,  King  of  Spain,  emi 
grating  with  the  latter  to  Philadelphia  in  the  twenties. 
His  supplement  to  Wilson's  "  Ornithology  "  comprises 
four  volumes  and  treats  of  not  less  than  one  hundred 
new  species.  The  work  was  published  in  Philadelphia 
from  1825  to  1833.  After  a  few  years  in  this  country, 
Bonaparte  removed  to  Italy,  where  he  interested  himself 
in  the  birds  of  Europe,  becoming  a  leader  in  the  Revo 
lution  of  1848.  He  died  in  Paris  in  1857  with  a 
greater  reputation  as  a  naturalist  than  in  statecraft. 

A  rival  of  Wilson  and  his  disciples,  a  man  who  at 
tained  to  still  greater  distinction  as  an  ornithologist,  was 
John  James  Audubon.  The  foundations  for  his  colos 
sal  work,  "  The  Birds  of  America,"  were  laid  within 
sound  of  Philadelphia.  Audubon's  father  was  a  French 
naval  officer,  who  lived  for  a  time  on  a  plantation  in 
Louisiana,  then  a  French  possession.  There  the  orni 
thologist  was  born  about  1780.  When  he  was  still 
very  young,  the  family  returned  to  France  and  he  was 
sent  to  Paris  to  study  art  under  the  celebrated  painter 
David.  Upon  coming  back  to  America,  it  was  to  re 
side  on  a  farm  of  285  acres,  called  "  Mill  Grove,"  on 
the  banks  of  the  Schuylkill  where  it  is  joined  by  Perki- 
omen  Creek,  a  few  miles  north  of  Norristown,  in  Mont 
gomery  County,  near  a  village  recently  rechristened 


cs 


IN  TRANSITION  203 

Audubon  in  honor  of  the  great  naturalist.  The  tract  is 
now  owned  by  Wm.  H.  Wetherill,  who  values  the  asso 
ciation,  having  appropriately  marked  the  gateway  to  the 
mansion  that  passers-by  may  know  the  history  of  the 
place. 

Audubon's  father  had  owned  this  farm  for  a  long 
time  and  it  was  presented  to  the  boy,  who  went  there  to 
live  with  the  Quaker  tenant  and  his  family.  He  re 
mained  for  several  years,  varying  unsuccessful  commer 
cial  adventures  with  his  scientific  rambles,  when  he  was 
not  seeking  his  own  pleasure.  On  this  farm  Audubon 
freely  indulged  his  love  of  nature.  u  Its  fine  woodlands, 
its  extensive  fields,  its  hills  crowned  with  evergreens,"  he 
wrote  in  recalling  this  life,  "  offered  many  subjects  for 
agreeable  studies  with  as  little  concern  about  the  future 
as  if  the  world  had  been  made  for  me."  The  house 
became  a  veritable  museum,  filled  as  it  was  with  stuffed 
quadrupeds  and  birds,  bird-skins,  birds'  eggs  and  other 
relics  of  the  hunt. 

In  1808,  Audubon  married  Lucy  Bakewell,  the 
daughter  of  a  cultivated  Englishman  who  occupied  an 
adjoining  farm.  Prospective  family  obligations  spurred 
him  to  new  commercial  exertions,  and,  taking  his  bride 
with  him,  he  removed  to  Kentucky  in  the  hope  of  find 
ing  fortune  in  new  fields,  but  with  no  better  success. 
"  For  a  period  of  twenty  years,"  Audubon  wrote,  "  my 
life  was  a  succession  of  vicissitudes.  I  tried  various 
branches  of  commerce  but  they  all  proved  unprofitable, 
doubtless  because  my  whole  mind  was  ever  filled  with 
my  passion  for  rambling  and  admiring  those  objects  of 
nature  from  which  alone  I  received  the  purest  gratifica 
tion." 

In  the  entire  long  record  of  science,  it  is  doubtful 


204  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

if  nature  has  ever  had  a  more  devoted  student,  with  zeal 
to  surmount  so  many  apparently  insuperable  obstacles. 
Once  he  was  embarked  upon  his  life  as  an  ornithologist, 
Audubon  abandoned  every  other  interest.  For  many 
years  he  was  separated  from  his  family.  One  time 
during  an  absence  he  found  that  200  of  his  drawings 
which  were  put  in  a  box  for  safe-keeping  had  been 
destroyed  by  the  rats.  He  returned  to  the  wilderness 
until  he  had  refilled  his  portfolio.  The  engravers  of 
Wilson's  and  Bonaparte's  volumes  in  Philadelphia, 
which  he  visited  in  1824,  declared  that  they  could  not 
work  from  his  drawings.  Thereupon,  in  1826,  the 
scientist  went  to  England,  where  he  found  an  appreci 
ative  reception,  although  he  constantly  longed  for  the 
American  field,  swamp  and  wild  wood.  "  I  hate  it, 
yes,  I  cordially  hate  London,  and  yet  cannot  escape 
from  it,"  he  wrote.  ;'  I  neither  can  write  my  journal 
when  here  nor  draw  well,  and,  if  I  walk  to  the  fields 
around,  the  very  voice  of  the  sweet  birds  I  hear  has  no 
longer  any  charm  for  me,  the  pleasure  being  too  much 
mingled  with  the  idea  that  in  another  hour  all  will  again 
be  bustle,  filth  and  smoke. " 

One  day  in  London  "  the  weather  was  shocking;  a 
dog  would  scarce  have  turned  out  to  hunt  the  finest  of 
game." 

In  France  Audubon  was  not  much  happier.  "  I 
travelled  from  Paris  to  Boulogne  with  two  nuns  that 
might  as  well  be  struck  off  the  calendar  of  animated 
beings,"  he  wrote  on  one  occasion.  '  They  stirred 
not,  they  spoke  not,  they  saw  not;  they  replied  neither 
by  word  nor  gesture  to  the  few  remarks  I  made.  In 
the  woods  of  America  I  have  never  been  in  such  silence; 
for  in  the  most  retired  places  I  have  had  the  gentle  mur- 


IN  TRANSITION  205 

muring  streamlet,  or  the  sound  of  the  woodpecker  tap 
ping,  or  the  sweet,  melodious  strains  of  that  lovely  re 
cluse,  my  greatest  favorite,  the  wood-thrush." 

He  had  no  overpowering  respect  even  for  the  greatest 
of  the  men  he  met.  He  had  had  a  letter  of  introduc 
tion  to  Francis  Jeffrey  of  the  "  Edinburgh  Review." 
"  He  never  came  near  me  and  I  never  went  near  him," 
the  great  ornithologist  wrote,  "  for  if  he  was  Jeffrey 
I  was  Audubon  and  felt  quite  independent  of  all  the 
tribe  of  Jeffreys  in  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland  put 
together."  One  distinguished  personage,  to  whom  he 
was  presented,  he  described  as  "  a  monstrously  ugly  old 
man  with  a  wig  that  might  make  a  capital  bed  for  an 
Osage  Indian  during  the  whole  of  a  cold  winter  on  the 
Arkansas  River." 

He  asked  for  175  subscribers  for  his  plates  at  about 
$1,000  the  set.  The  kings  of  England  and  France 
placed  their  names  upon  his  subscription  list  and  the 
work  of  publication  began  at  London  in  1827.  The 
first  volume  was  completed  in  1830  and  the  fourth  and 
last  —  the  entire  series  comprises  435  plates  —  in  1838. 
When  his  arrangements  for  this  work  were  completed, 
Audubon  wrote  his  "  Ornithological  Biography,"  or  the 
descriptions  of  the  birds  which  he  had  pictured  and  of 
the  adventures  through  which  he  had  passed  in  collect 
ing  his  specimens.  This  notable  contribution  to  science, 
comprising  five  volumes,  appeared  in  Edinburgh. 

In  his  last  years,  though  always  a  wanderer,  Audu 
bon  lived  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  on  a  tract  now 
included  within  the  limits  of  New  York  City,  where  he 
died  in  1851  while  in  the  midst  of  a  work  on  the  quad 
rupeds  of  America,  as  Wilson  had  been  at  the  time  his 


ao6  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

labors  were  interrupted  by  the  summons  to  another 
world. 

Thomas  Say,  a  remarkable  entomologist,  came  of  a 
Quaker  family  which  had  early  established  itself  in  Phil 
adelphia.  His  father,  Benjamin  Say,  was  a  well-known 
physician,  and  settled  the  son  in  the  drug  business,  which 
was  soon  abandoned  for  the  study  of  insects.  His  part 
ner  in  the  apothecary  shop,  John  Speakman,  with  some 
other  young  men,  had  founded  the  Academy  of  Natural 
Sciences  in  1812,  and  in  its  hall  Say  lived  in  the  hum 
blest  way,  pursuing  his  scientific  investigations.  He 
slept  beneath  the  skeleton  of  a  horse  and  was  nourished 
chiefly  by  bread  and  milk,  a  process  by  which  he  is  said 
to  have  put  the  problem  of  living  upon  a  basis  of  twelve 
cents  a  day.  He  made  many  expeditions  alone  and  with 
parties  of  government  engineers,  geographers  and  sci 
entists,  pursuing  his  studies  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 
At  length  he  became  interested  in  Robert  Owen's  com 
munistic  settlement  at  New  Harmony,  Ind.,  and  re 
moved  thither  in  1825.  His  chief  work,  "American 
Entomology,"  in  three  handsomely  illustrated  volumes, 
was  published  in  Philadelphia,  beginning  with  1824. 
Before  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1834,  he  had  turned 
his  attention  to  conchology,  but  he  left  his  studies  in  that 
field  very  incomplete. 

Botany,  which  had  been  so  faithfully  studied  and 
taught  in  Philadelphia  by  the  Bartrams,  father  and  son; 
Dr.  Benjamin  S.  Barton,  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl 
vania;  and  Humphry  Marshall  of  Marshallton,  Chester 
County,  a  kinsman  of  the  Bartrams  who  had  his  Ar 
boretum  or  botanic  garden,  which  was  long  an  object  of 
interest  in  the  neighborhood,  although  today  in  great 
decay,  was  now  capably  represented  by  William  Dar- 


IN  TRANSITION  207 

lington,  also  of  Chester  County,  Abbe  Correa  da  Serra 
and  Thomas  Nuttall. 

Darlington  came  of  an  old  Quaker  family.  He  grad 
uated  in  medicine  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  was  a  pupil  of  Barton's,  practised  his  profes 
sion  in  West  Chester,  served  in  Congress,  and  studied 
botany,  in  which  science  he  gained  international  distinc 
tion. 

Joseph  Francisco  Correa  da  Serra  was  a  Portuguese 
botanist  who,  after  long  residence  in  Paris,  came  to  this 
country  to  continue  his  studies  in  natural  history.  In 
Philadelphia  he  lectured  upon  his  science  and  invigor 
ated  the  study  of  it  in  the  group  of  which  he  was  a  dis 
tinguished  member.  While  still  here  he  was  appointed 
Portugal's  Minister  to  the  United  States  and  afterward 
returned  to  his  own  country,  where  his  death  occurred 
in  1823.* 

Thomas  Nuttall  was  the  greatest  botanist  of  the 
group.  A  Yorkshire  Englishman,  at  twenty-two  he 
came  to  Philadelphia,  finding  employment  at  the  print 
ing  trade.  Becoming  interested  in  the  names  of  flowers 
which  he  discovered  while  rambling  on  the  banks  of  the 
Schuylkill,  he  received  kindnesses  from  William  Bar- 
tram  and  Professor  Barton,  to  whom  he  applied  for 
guidance  and  information.  Supported  out  of  the 
purses  of  Professor  Barton,  Correa  da  Serra,  Zaccheus 
Collins,  a  Quaker  philanthropist  interested  in  the  nat 
ural  sciences,  and  others,  Nuttall  undertook  a  remark 
able  series  of  journeys  into  the  interior.  He  made 
friends  with  the  Indians,  of  whom  he  complained  that, 
while  his  back  was  turned,  they  would  often  drain  his 

*To  him  is  ascribed  the  famous  maxim:  "The  Lord  takes  care 
of  little  children,  drunken  men  and  the  United  States."  My  author 
ity  for  this  statement  is  Henry  Carey  Baird. 


208  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

spirit  bottles  which  were  filled  with  specimens,  leaving 
his  snakes  and  lizards  dry!  Once  his  wanderings  took 
him  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  He  was  closely  con 
nected  with  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  which 
has  so  powerfully  contributed  to  make  Philadelphia  a 
centre  for  the  study  of  natural  history,  deriving  his  in 
come  from  his  lectures  and  the  private  sale  of  his  col 
lections.  His  publications,  describing  the  results  of  his 
explorations,  brought  him  a  high  reputation,  and  in 
1822  he  was  appointed  professor  of  natural  history  in 
Harvard  University.  In  this  position  he  never  felt 
entirely  at  his  ease.  He  yearned  for  his  old  life  in  the 
open  air  and,  failing  to  secure  a  leave  of  absence,  he 
resigned.  In  1833  he  was  again  in  Philadelphia,  pre 
paring  for  a  trip  to  the  Pacific  coast  with  a  party  of 
scientists.  This  expedition  was  very  successful  and  he 
returned  by  way  of  Cape  Horn. 

Nuttall  made  the  most  important  additions  to  the 
"  American  Silva "  of  Francois  Andre  Michaux. 
When  a  lad  but  fifteen  years  of  age,  Michaux  had  ac 
companied  his  father,  Andre  Michaux,  to  North  Amer 
ica  for  a  study  of  the  oaks,  and  had  subsequently 
visited  the  country  on  behalf  of  the  French  government, 
sending  home  acorns  and  young  trees  with  a  view  to  the 
introduction  of  new  species  in  European  forests.  De 
siring  in  some  way  to  repay  the  Americans  for  their  hos 
pitalities,  he  left  at  his  death  a  legacy  to  be  divided 
between  Boston  and  Philadelphia  for  the  encouragement 
of  sylviculture  in  the  United  States.  The  American 
Philosophical  Society  was  made  the  custodian  of  the 
sum,  about  $8,000,  which  came  to  Philadelphia,  and 
with  the  fund  a  Michaux  grove  of  oak  trees  was  planted 
in  Fairmount  Park  and  lectures  upon  the  important  sub- 


IN  TRANSITION  209 

ject  of  forestry  have  been  given  from  time  to  time.  The 
younger  Michaux's  valuable  work,  "  North  American 
Silva,"  was  raised  from  three  to  six  volumes  by  Thomas 
Nuttall.  For  some  time  he  had  been  looking  forward 
to  the  inheritance  of  a  small  estate  in  England  from  an 
uncle,  but  that  insular  old  man,  fearing  for  his  neph 
ew's  safety  while  exploring  the  American  wildernesses, 
attached  to  the  bequest  the  condition  that  the  beneficiary 
should  occupy  the  estate  at  least  nine  months  in  each 
year.  Chafing  under  the  provision,  the  naturalist  at 
last  discovered  that  by  leaving  England  in  September 
and  returning  in  the  following  April  he  would  still  be 
conforming  to  the  letter  of  the  will,  and  from  time  to 
time  he  came  to  spend  his  winters  in  Philadelphia  at  the 
Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  in  the  study  of  botany  and 
ornithology,  which  also  claimed  his  interest  in  the  later 
years  of  his  life. 

In  1830  Amos  Bronson  Alcott  arrived  in  this  city 
to  enforce  upon  the  people  his  peculiar  ideas  concerning 
education.  He  was  a  Connecticut  farmer's  son,  who  dis 
liked  the  trade  of  his  father.  He  worked  for  a  time  in  a 
clock  factory  and  then  peddled  almanacs  and  tin-ware 
from  house  to  house  in  New  England,  later  extending 
his  tours  to  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas.  He  talked 
much  to  the  people,  with  whom  he  spent  many  days  in 
pleasant  converse,  and  sold  little,  betraying  thus  early 
that  singularly  unpractical  character  which  distinguished 
him  in  later  life.  Obtaining  a  place  as  a  teacher  in  a 
public  school  in  Connecticut,  he  came  to  hold  many  fan 
tastic  views  about  the  education  and  moral  government 
of  his  pupils,  attracting  the  attention  of  philanthropists 
in  Boston,  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  In  1828  he 
opened  an  infant  school  in  Boston  and  later  taught  older 


210  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

children.  It  was  his  wish  u  to  philosophize  upon  the 
pure  workmanship  of  the  Creator  —  to  aid  in  preserv 
ing  its  symmetry  and  beauty." 

He  had  learned  to  know  Samuel  J.  May,  the  Aboli 
tionist,  who  had  expressed  an  interest  in  his  educational 
system.  Alcott  married  May's  sister  in  1830  and  soon 
after  came  to  Philadelphia,  which  he  had  visited  two 
years  before,  when  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Dr. 
William  H.  Furness,  Mathew  Carey,  and  other  prom 
inent  men.  Roberts  Vaux,  who  had  offered  a  prize  for 
the  best  treatise  on  education,  awarded  it  to  Alcott,  and 
thus  he  had  gained  another  friend  in  the  city.  Robert 
Walsh,  Dr.  George  McClellan,  the  father  of  General 
McClellan;  Dr.  James  Rush  and  John  Vaughan,  the 
scientists,  were  also  numbered  among  his  friends,  though 
the  most  valuable  of  all  was  Reuben  Haines,  a  wealthy 
Quaker  of  Germantown,  who  interested  himself  partic 
ularly  in  cattle  breeding  and  the  natural  sciences. 

Through  Haines  Alcott  was  induced  to  settle  in  Ger 
mantown.  His  patron  bought  him  a  house  for  his 
school  "  on  the  main  street,  the  grounds  and  gardens 
standing  back  and  including  an  acre  or  more,  all  beau 
tifully  laid  out."  This  building  stood  on  the  site  of  the 
present  Masonic  Hall  at  5425  Germantown  Avenue. 
In  May,  1831,  the  experiment  began  with  four  or  five 
children  from  three  to  nine  years  of  age,  the  number  in 
creasing  until  it  promised  to  attain  some  degree  of  suc 
cess.  Watson,  "  the  chronicler  and  oracle  of  this  part 
of  the  country,"  Alcott  wrote  to  a  friend,  sent  his  daugh 
ter  to  the  school,  and  pupils  came  to  him  from  several 
prominent  families  in  Germantown.  The  children 
reached  him  at  eight  o'clock  each  morning  and  he  aimed 
to  enlarge  their  souls  by  divers  original  means.  Some- 


IN  TRANSITION  211 

times  he  escorted  them  to  the  Wissahickon,  that  the 
;'  beautiful  romantic  stream  "  might  have  "  a  happy 
influence  upon  their  imaginations  and  feelings."  His 
school- room  contained  busts  of  Christ,  Socrates,  Shake 
speare,  Newton  and  Locke.  Whether  or  not,  when  the 
pupil  needed  punishment,  he  was  commanded  to  rap 
the  knuckles  or  lay  the  strap  upon  his  teacher,  a  re 
versal  of  all  usual  processes,  tried  later  in  Boston,  his 
tory  sayeth  not,  but  there  was  curious  theoretical  non 
sense  in  plenty  wherever  Bronson  Alcott  was. 

In  Germantown  two  of  his  daughters  were  born,  the 
second  being  Louisa  M.  Alcott,  who,  in  spite  of  a  veg 
etable  diet,  and  only  of  those  vegetables  that  grew  up 
into  the  pure  air  —  never  such  as  sent  their  strength 
downward  like  the  onion  and  the  potato ;  graham  bread, 
without  sweets  of  any  kind,  which  was  often  made  into 
images  of  soul-inspiring  objects;  interminable  transcen 
dental  discussion,  and  incidentally  extreme  penury,  grew 
up  to  be  one  of  the  most  popular  of  American  story 
writers. 

Of  their  Germantown  home  Mrs.  Bronson  Alcott 
wrote  at  the  time :  "  Imagination  never  pictured  out 
to  me  a  residence  so  perfectly  to  my  mind.  I  wish  my 
friends  could  see  how  delightfully  I  am  settled.  My 
father  has  never  married  a  daughter  or  seen  a  son  more 
completely  happy  than  I  am."  Alas  for  prophecy! 
Reuben  Haines  died  in  October,  1831.  The  school 
dwindled  and  it  became  necessary  to  close  it,  when  Al 
cott  went  into  the  city  and  opened  classes  in  a  building  in 
Eighth  Street,  where  Charles  Godfrey  Leland  was  a 
pupil  until  his  parents  discovered  the  uselessness  of  his 
teacher's  methods.  "  Llis  forte  was  moral  influence," 
says  Leland  in  his  "  Memoirs."  He  believed  in  "  sym- 


212  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

pathetic  intellectual  communion  "  by  talking  to  his  pu 
pils,  and  "  Oh,  Heaven,"  exclaimed  "  Hans  Breit- 
mann  "  in  recalling  these  days,  u  what  a  talker  he  was !  " 
This  school  also  came  to  grief.  Alcott  formed  an  asso 
ciation  of  Philadelphia  teachers  which  published  a  jour 
nal  of  education.  It,  too,  failed,  and  he  now  bade  adieu 
to  the  too  practical  Quakers  and  again  turned  his  face 
toward  New  England,  where,  said  he,  "  there  is  a  more 
intelligent  sympathy  for  the  improvement  of  humanity, 
freer  toleration  of  variant  opinions,  and  a  more  gener 
ous  philanthropy."  There  was  a  place  for  him  in  New 
England,  if  he  wished  such  a  place,  which  he  could  not 
have  gained  among  the  Philadelphians,  of  whom  he  had 
said  upon  coming  to  them,  that  their  interest  "  inclined 
to  subjects  connected  with  utility,  comfort  and  practical 
morals  "  rather  than  to  "  metaphysical  and  ethical  " 
questions. 

Returning  to  Boston  in  1833,  after  a  residence  of  a 
little  less  than  four  years  in  Pennsylvania,  he  conducted 
his  school  in  the  Masonic  Temple,  until  he  was  sold  out 
by  the  sheriff;  then  drifted  to  Concord  to  become  a  rival 
and  much  admired  friend  of  Emerson,  and  a  head  pro 
fessor  of  a  new  mystical  philosophy,  trying  socialistic 
experiments  while  he  talked  and  starved  himself,  his 
wife  and  four  daughters,  who  made  the  subjects  for 
Louisa's  first  successful  story,  "  Little  Women."  By 
this  noble-hearted  girl  was  the  family  saved  from  the 
penalties  of  idealism  in  a  very  practical  world.  She 
had  been  a  domestic  servant,  a  nurse  in  the  war,  and,  as 
Rebecca  Harding  Davis  says  without  too  much  exag 
geration,  would  have  ground  her  own  bones  to  make 
bread  for  her  people.  Her  father  was  accurately  pic 
tured  by  Lowell  in  his  "  Fable  for  Critics  " : — 


IN  TRANSITION  213 

"  While  he  talks  he  is  great,  but  goes  out  like  a  taper 
If  you  shut  him  up  closely  with  pen,  ink  and  paper. 
Yet  his  fingers  itch  for  'em  from  morning  till  night, 
And  he  thinks  he  does  wrong  if  he  don't  always  write." 

Endless  reams  of  paper  were  covered  with  writing 
which  no  one  would  read  or  publish,  but  his  daughter 
Louisa  had  a  different  fortune.  After  "  Little  Wom 
en  "  appeared  and  her  popularity  as  a  writer  of  stones 
for  girls  was  established,  her  father  was  enabled  to 
travel  at  will  until  he  was  more  than  eighty,  giving  his 
"  Conversations  "  in  all  parts  of  the  country  and  being 
regarded  with  no  unnatural  curiosity,  especially  in  the 
West.  Miss  Alcott  made  perhaps  $200,000  from  her 
books,  and  upon  coming  to  Philadelphia  used  to  enjoy 
the  visits  to  the  old  house  in  which  she  was  born. 

Two  magazine  editors  and  poets,  Sumner  Lincoln 
Fairfield  and  Dr.  James  McHenry,  made  Philadelphia 
their  home  for  many  years  in  the  twenties  and  thirties. 

Fairfield,  a  poor  unhappy  character,  later  epileptic 
and  insane,  was  born  in  Massachusetts.  His  life  was 
ill-starred  from  the  first.  He  was  shorn  of  kin  and 
friends  by  death,  the  iron  sank  into  him  and  he  was 
made  morbidly  misanthropic  until  gloom  shrouded  his 
spirit  completely.  It  is  likely  that  history  would  have 
nothing  to  say  of  him  but  for  his  remarkable  wife,  Jane 
Frazee,  a  niece  of  John  Frazee,  the  sculptor.  He  came 
to  Philadelphia  in  1828  and  took  charge  of  an  academy 
at  Newtown,  in  Bucks  County,  where  his  life  promised 
some  fruits,  until  he  went  bathing  one  day  with  a  pupil 
named  Strawbridge.  The  boy  was  drowned  and  Fair- 
field  was  brought  out  insensible,  many  hours  passing 
before  he  could  be  resuscitated.  The  event  broke  up 
the  school,  and  the  teacher,  his  mind  a  prey  to  suspi- 


214  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

cions,  superstitions  and  unhappy  memories,  removed  to 
New  York. 

He  had  already  written  some  heavy,  maundering  and 
but  half-comprehensible  poems,  and,  starvation  staring 
them  in  the  face,  his  wife  set  out  to  secure  subscribers 
for  a  volume  of  his  verse.  She  had  remarkable  success 
and  it  is  to  her  pilgrimages  to  the  homes  and  business 
places  of  the  generous  rich  (amid  indignities  and  priva 
tions  suffered  by  no  other  woman  of  whom  there  is 
record  in  our  literary  history,  not  even  by  Mrs.  Clemm, 
Poe's  faithful  aunt-mother)  that  Fairfield  and  a  family 
of  four  or  five  children  were  maintained  during  many 
years. 

Once  more  in  Philadelphia  in  1830,  "  sick,  solitary, 
friendless  and  moneyless,"  Fairfield  projected  the 
"  North  American  Magazine,"  at  first  a  monthly  and 
later  a  quarterly,  which  was  published  at  five  dollars  a 
year.  It  was  conducted  in  no  spirit  of  sweetness  and 
without  the  least  editorial  ability,  being  a  misanthropic, 
crotchety  and  malicious  collection  of  prose  and  verse, 
much  of  it  from  the  editor's  own  hand.  Mrs.  Fairfield 
travelled  up  and  down  the  country  in  behalf  of  this  un 
happy  enterprise.  It  cost  $3,000  a  year  to  publish  it, 
and  all  this  and  enough  besides  to  keep  her  husband  and 
children  was  procured  by  this  unusual  woman,  often 
times  from  men  whom  the  editor  had  ill-naturedly  at 
tacked  in  his  periodical. 

For  five  years  this  work  was  continued  and  was  fol 
lowed  by  her  sale  of  a  complete  edition  of  his  poems,  a 
biography  she  had  written  of  him,  and  an  autobi- 
graphy  of  herself,  by  all  of  which  she  was  enabled  to 
keep  him  until  his  death  —  this  occurred  in  New  Or 
leans  in  1844  —  and  afterward  the  children,  several  of 


5:5- 


IN  TRANSITION  215 

whom  were  insane  like  their  father,  a  lingering  heritage 
of  this  unhappiest  of  marriages. 

In  New  York  Mrs.  Fairfield  went  into  Wall  Street 
among  the  bankers  and  brokers.  Once  she  journeyed  to 
Canada,  and  again  to  England.  She  told  an  English 
literary  man  "  that  during  the  fifteen  years  of  her  mar 
ried  life  she  had  published  by  subscription,  by  individual 
labor,  two  editions  of  poems  in  detached  parts  and  lastly 
during  the  past  year,"  had  brought  out  her  husband's 
works  entire  in  the  volume  she  carried  with  her.  "  Be 
sides,  during  that  period/'  she  said,  she  had  "  estab 
lished  and  sustained  a  periodical  work  for  five  years.'* 
Men  declared  it  incredible,  and  it  became  the  more  in 
comprehensible  when  they  stopped  to  read  what  Fair- 
field  wrote,  since  it  so  totally  lacked  popular  charm. 

Jane  Frazee  Fairfield  must  have  been  a  woman  of 
many  personal  attractions,  a  view  that  finds  confirmation 
in  her  autobiography,  when  she  complains  of  the  jeal 
ousy  which  other  women  displayed  as  she  sought  their 
husbands'  subscriptions.  Fairfield's  longest  poem  was 
"  The  Last  Night  of  Pompeii,"  the  plot  and  scenery  of 
which  he  always  charged  Bulwer  with  appropriating  for 
his  novel,  "  The  Last  Days  of  Pompeii;"  the  latter, 
said  Mrs.  Fairfield,  being  "  in  every  respect  an  entire 
and  most  flagrant  plagiarism."  If  Bulwer  derived  any 
advantage  from  the  poem,  the  unprejudiced  investigator 
to-day  will  be  disposed  to  think  it  a  well-earned  reward 
for  the  toil  of  reading  this  most  dismal  writing. 

Dr.  James  McHenry,  a  writer  of  agreeable  songs  and 
lyrics  and  several  popular  novels,  was  an  Irishman  by 
birth.  He  was  educated  for  the  Presbyterian  clergy, 
but  being  a  hunchback  would  not  go  into  the  pulpit. 
He  then  studied  medicine  at  Belfast  and  Glasgow  and 


216  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

came  to  America  in  1817.  After  being  employed  for 
some  time  at  Baltimore  and  Pittsburg,  he  settled  in  Phil 
adelphia,  where  for  years  he  was  a  physician,  the  keeper, 
with  his  wife's  assistance,  of  a  drygoods  store  in  Second 
Street  and  later  at  Eighth  and  Chestnut  Streets;  polit 
ical  leader,  magazine  editor,  Irish  laureate,  critic  and 
general  litterateur.  While  not  a  great  man  in  any  lit 
erary  branch,  he  had  conspicuous  talents  for  the  time  in 
which  he  lived.  His  poem,  "  The  Pleasures  of  Friend 
ship,"  was  first  published  in  Pittsburg  in  1822.  It  had 
reached  its  seventh  edition  with  Grigg  and  Elliott  in 
Philadelphia  in  1836,  and  there  were  printings  in  Eng 
land.  Dr.  McHenry  was  also  the  author  of  a  narrative 
poem,  "  Waltham,"  whose  scenes  were  laid  in  or  near 
Philadelphia  at  the  Revolutionary  time.  Waltham 

"  was  a  man  of  that  unvarnished  sect 
Who  for  their  conscience'  sake,  not  from  neglect, 
From  fashion's  freaks  keep  artless  nature  free 
And  think  her  fairest  in  simplicity." 

This  old  Quaker  lived 

11  Where  Schuylkill  leads  his  Indian-chaunted  tide 
Through  fields  of  maize  and  forests  wand'ring  wide, 
Near  where  yon  joyous  city,  proud  and  fair, 
Skirts  the  broad  banks  of  haughty  Delaware." 

He  was  a  Tory  who,  overhearing  Washington's 
prayer  at  Valley  Forge  or  in  its  neighborhood,  became  a 
patriot,  a  Revolutionary  legend  repeated  to  this  day. 
Like  Fairfield,  Dr.  McHenry  was  ambitious  to  write 
epics,  and  J.  B.  Lippincott  published  his  "  Antedilu 
vians,  or  the  World  Destroyed,"  a  long  poem  in  ten 
books  in  1840.  His  particular  forte  was  Irish  love- 


IN  TRANSITION  217 

songs,  of  which  he  indited  a  large  number,  many  of 
them  designed  to  be  sung  to  well-known  Irish  tunes. 
He  was  the  author  of  lines  beginning  — 

"War  and  Love  are  bold  compeers: 
War  sheds  blood  and  Love  sheds  tears ; 
War  has  swords  and  Love  has  darts; 
War  breaks  heads  and  Love  breaks  hearts. 

"  War's  a  robber,  Love's  a  thief  ; 
War  brings  ruin,  Love  brings  grief; 
War's  a  giant,  Love's  a  child ; 
War  runs  mad  and  Love  runs  wild." 

Dr.  McHenry's  novels  included  "  O'Halloran,  or  the 
Insurgent  Chief,"  and  "  Hearts  of  Steel,"  Irish  histori 
cal  tales;  some  American  historical  novels  such  as  "  The 
Wilderness,  or  Braddock's  Times;"  "The  Spectre  of 
the  Forest,  or  Annals  of  the  Housatonic  "  (a  New  Eng 
land  romance)  ;  "  The  Betrothal  of  Wyoming  "  and 
"  Meredith,  or  the  Mystery  of  the  Meschianza."  He 
was  also  the  author  of  "  The  Usurper,"  an  historical 
tragedy  once  seen  on  the  Philadelphia  stage,  and  of 
other  works  now  gone  out  of  the  world's  recollection. 

In  January,  1824,  he  began  to  publish  "  The  Ameri 
can  Monthly  Magazine  "  as  a  Philadelphia  rival  of  the 
"  North  American  Review,"  after  the  "  Port  Folio  " 
had  declined  and  before  Walsh  had  launched  his  "Amer 
ican  Quarterly  "  with  the  Careys.  Dennie,  in  the  full 
ness  of  his  strength,  did  not  put  his  personal  stamp  more 
firmly  upon  the  "  Port  Folio "  than  did  McHenry 
upon  his  magazine,  and  while  it  lived, —  its  files  are  pre 
served  for  but  a  single  year,  1824, —  it  was  a  real  orna 
ment  to  the  periodical  literature  of  the  country.  It  ex- 


218  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

celled  in  criticism,  essays,  poetry  and  social  satire,  not 
the  least  important  of  its  articles  being  a  series  of  "  Ex 
tracts  from  the  Chronicle  of  a  Bachelor/'  wit  worthy  to 
be  read  at  this  day. 

Judged  by  his  critical  articles  in  this  magazine,  Dr. 
McHenry,  like  Dennie,  was  a  sound  and  conservative 
disciple  of  Pope,  and  most  valiantly  led  the  battle 
against  the  "  Lakers "  and  Lord  Byron.  He  was 
swayed  by  no  craze  or  current  fashion  and  was  fearless 
in  his  defense  of  the  best  English  literary  traditions. 
Trained  in  the  classics  in  British  schools,  he  bent  his 
bow  as  surely  as  Dennie  or  Walsh.  He  steadfastly  de 
nounced  Byron's  "  doggerels  and  ribaldries. "  Words 
worth,  he  declared,  did  less  mischief  only  because  he 
was  less  read.  His  "  great  fault  "  was  "  a  puerile  affec 
tation  of  simplicity  so  extreme  as  to  be  absolutely  sicken 
ing  to  any  reader  who  has  reached  the  age  of  maturity.'* 
The  Lake  School  was  "  a  school  which  although  not  so 
very  rude  and  filthy  as  the  Byronian  or  prosaic  school, 
is  incomparably  more  tame  and  insipid."  The  "  inanity 
of  the  Water  Poetry  "  he  illustrated  by  quotations  from 
Wordsworth : — 

"  Around  a  wild  and  wooded  hill 
A  gravell'd  pathway  treading, 
We  reached  a  votive  stone  that  bears 
The  name  of  Aloys  Redding." 

11  Hush-a-ba-lul-a-by,"  exclaimed  McHenry  as  the 
sing-song  was  done.  As  for  the  other  "  Lakers,"  Cole 
ridge  was  said  to  be  an  agreeable  companion  and  con 
versationalist,  but  judged  as  a  poet  "  we  for  our  parts," 
said  McHenry,  "  look  upon  him  as  a  pretty  prattler  fit 
to  figure  nowhere  so  well  as  in  the  nursery  room." 


IN  TRANSITION  219 

Dr.  McHenry  died  in  1845,  'm  Larne,  County  An 
trim,  Ireland,  as  the  United  States  Consul  at  London 
derry,  an  office  to  which  he  had  been  appointed  by  his 
friend,  President  Jackson.  His  sons  were  successful 
shipping  merchants  in  Philadelphia,  James  becoming  a 
resident  of  England,  where  he  led  a  notable  career  as  a 
financier. 

In  historians  the  city  was  not  yet  rich.  The  greatest 
undertaking  after  Proud's  was  Watson's  large  collec 
tion  of  legendary  lore,  reminiscences  and  hearsay  evi 
dence,  incorporated  in  his  "  Annals  of  Philadelphia." 

John  Fanning  Watson  was  born  in  Burlington 
County,  N.  J.,  in  1779.  He  was  placed  in  a  counting 
house  when  a  boy  and  wandered  as  far  afield  as  New 
Orleans,  returning  home  upon  his  father's  death  to  be 
come  a  bookseller  in  Chestnut  Street.  When  he  left 
this  business,  he  was  elected  the  cashier  of  a  bank  in 
Germantown,  an  office  he  held  for  thirty-three  years, 
afterward  acting  as  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the  Phil 
adelphia,  Germantown  and  Norristown  Railroad,  from 
which  post  he  retired  in  1859  when  he  had  reached  the 
age  of  eighty.  For  years  he  was  an  industrious  pedes 
trian,  the  Wissahickon  being  a  favorite  resort,  but 
his  interest  and  pleasure  carried  him  in  all  directions. 
On  Saturday  afternoons  it  was  long  his  custom  to  take 
tea  at  Stenton  with  Deborah  Logan,  who  assisted  him 
in  his  antiquarian  researches.  His  record  is  of  much 
quaint  interest,  but  it  has  neither  the  philosophy  nor  the 
trustworthiness  required  of  history.  Born  in  the  dark 
days  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Watson  died  in  1860, 
soon  after  Lincoln  was  elected  to  the  Presidency  and  the 
country  faced  its  great  Civil  War. 

In  centering  our  attention  upon  the  "  Port  Folio  " 


220  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

and  the  "  American  Quarterly  Review,"  with  our  pass 
ing  allusions  to  McHenry's  and  Fairiield's  magazines  as 
the  representative  periodicals  of  this  time  in  u  this  mind- 
nurturing  city  of  Philadelphia,  the  intellectual  metrop 
olis  of  this  fair  republic,"  as  one  writer  designated  it, 
we  are  in  danger  of  passing  over  other  attempts  seri 
ously  made  to  improve  the  literary  taste  of  the  city  and 
the  nation.  There  were  several  magazines  which  led 
very  brief  lives.  Among  them  may  be  named  u  The 
Mirror  of  Taste  and  Dramatic  Censor,"  which  the 
Bradfords  began  to  publish  in  1810.  This  was  doubt 
less  the  most  satisfactory  paper  devoted  exclusively  to 
the  drama  which  we  have  ever  had  in  this  country. 
Certainly  the  state  of  the  dramatic  art  in  America  and 
the  public  interest  in  dramatic  things  to-day  seem  not 
to  support  such  a  publication. 

About  one  hundred  pages  of  excellent  matter,  critical, 
historical  and  biographical,  concerning  plays  and  actors, 
was  issued  each  month  until  the  end  of  1811.  Com 
plaint  was  entered  against  the  "  men  of  letters  with 
which  the  city  abounds  "  that  they  were  shirking  their 
responsibilities  as  guardians  of  the  public  taste.  "  Ap 
plause,  which  ought  to  be  measured  out  with  scrupulous 
justice,  correctness  and  precision,  has  been  by  admiring 
ignorance  poured  forth  in  a  torrent  roar  of  uncouth  and 
obstreperous  glee  on  the  buffoon,  *  the  clown  that  says 
more  than  is  set  down  for  him/  and  on  '  the  robustious 
perriwig-pated  fellow  who  tears  a  passion  all  to  rags,' 
while  chaste  merit  and  propriety  have  often  gone  unre 
warded  by  a  smile." 

At  the  time  this  publication  was  begun,  the  theatre  in 
Philadelphia  was  in  a  very  unreformed  condition.  The 
gallery  boys  were  in  undisputed  control  of  the  play- 


THE  MIRROR  OF  TASTE, 


AND 


DRAMATIC  CENSOR. 


Vol.  I.  JANUARY  1810.  No.  U 

HISTORY  OF  THE  STAGE. 

Segnius  irritant  animos  demfesa  per  aurem 
Quam  qu.T  sum  ocuiis  subjects  fidelibus,  et  qtUB 
Ipse  sibi  tradit  spectator.*        Hor.de  Arte  Poetic* 

CHAPTER  L 
OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  STAGE  CONSIDERED  AND  REFUTED. 

THAT  amusement  is  necessary  to  man,  the  most  superfi* 
cial  observation  of  his  conduct  and  pursuits,  may  convince 
us.  The  Creator  never  implanted  in  die  hearts  of  all  his  in 
telligent  creatures  one  common  universal  appetite  withotit 
some  corresponding  necessity;,  and  that  he  has  given  them 
an  instinctive  appetite  for  amusements  as  strong  as  any  other 
which  we  labour  to  gratify,  may  be  clearly  perceived  in  the 
efforts  of  infancy,  in  the  exertions  of  youth,  in  the  pursuits 
of  manhood,  in  the  feeble  endeavours  of  old  age,  and  in  the 
pastimes  which  human  creatures,  even  the  uninstructed  sa 
vage  nations  themselves,  have  invented  for  their  relaxation 
and  delight.  This  appetite  evinces  a  necessity  for  its  grati 
fication  as  much  as  hunger,  thirst,  and  weariness,  intimate 
the  necessity  of  bodily  refection  by  eating,  drinking,  and 


•  What  we  hear 

With  weaker  passion  will  aflefct  the  heart 
Than  when  the  faithful  eye  beholds  the  pwt-JVvmfl«. 

VOL.  z.  c 


FIRST  PAGE  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME  OF  THE  "  MIRROR  OF  TASTE 


222  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

houses.  Correspondents  of  the  "Mirror  of  Taste" 
begged  the  editor  not  to  criticize  the  players,  but  the 
ruffians  who  "  crimsoned  the  cheek  of  decency  "  with 
their  lewd  interruptions  of  the  play.  The  occupants  of 
places  in  the  pit  often  sat  in  a  rain  of  nutshells  and  apple 
parings,  when  missiles  were  not  aimed  spitefully  at  bald 
pates,  a  condition  of  things  that  caused  gentlemen  to 
wear  their  hats  at  the  theater,  and  to  leave  their  wives 
and  daughters  at  home.  The  boxes  were  sometimes  the 
scene  of  drinking  revels,  jugs,  bottles  and  glasses  from 
which  both  men  and  women  refreshed  themselves,  being 
in  the  foreground  as  the  play  progressed.  These  prac 
tices  were  most  vehemently  condemned  by  the  "  Mirror 
of  Taste." 

The  editor  of  this  magazine  was  Stephen  Cullen  Car 
penter,  who  came  to  Philadelphia  from  England  by  way 
of  Charleston,  S.  C.  He  was  a  native  Irishman,  but 
early  went  to  India,  where  he  served  in  the  British  army. 
Upon  returning  to  London  he  commended  himself  by 
his  political  writings  to  Edmund  Burke  and  officiated  as 
a  parliamentary  reporter  at  the  trial  of  Warren  Hast 
ings.  He  was  the  author  of  several  volumes  of  travel 
and  biography  and  died  in  Philadelphia  in  1830  in  the 
seventy-eighth  year  of  his  age. 

The  "  Mirror  of  Taste's  "  most  notable  literary  serv 
ice  was  to  bring  forward  the  young  Philadelphia  artist, 
Charles  Robert  Leslie.  In  1810  George  Frederick 
Cooke,  the  great  English  tragedian,  arrived  in  America. 
His  coming  to  the  city  caused  unusual  excitement,  a 
crowd  remaining  in  the  street  all  night  to  be  present 
betimes  at  the  opening  of  the  box  office.  Leslie, 
who  attended  the  performances,  drew  vivid  portraits  of 
Cooke  as  King  Lear  and  Richard  the  Third,  which  were 


IN  TRANSITION 


223 


engraved  for  the  "Mirror  of  Taste."  So  much  atten 
tion  was  attracted  to  the  young  man  by  these  drawings 
that  a  fund  was  collected  to  send  him  to  Europe  to 
study,  whereby  an  original  artistic  genius  was  fostered 
and  made  valuable  to  the  world. 

The  chief  minor  Phila 
delphia  magazine  of  this 
time,  however,  was  the 
"  Analectic,"  with  which 
Washington  Irving's  name 
is  closely  linked.  The  times 
greatly  encouraged  literary 
piracy  at  the  expense  of 
British  authors  and  publish 
ers.  The  principal  Phila 
delphia  bookseller  prior  to 
Littell  to  identify  his  name 
with  the  business  of  bor 
rowing  and  stealing  from 
the  British  magazines  was 
Enos  Bronson,  who  in  1809 
issued  a  compilation  called 
"  Select  Reviews  and  the 
Spirit  of  the  Magazines." 
It  was  edited  by  young  Sam 
uel  Ewing,  the  "  Jacques  " 
of  the  "  Port  Folio."  In 
1812  Moses  Thomas  pur 
chased  the  magazine  and  it  continued  to  appear  month 
ly,  as  the  "  Analectic,"  until  1821.  Primarily  eclectic, 
as  its  name  indicates,  some  original  articles  were  early 
introduced  into  its  pages.  Washington  Irving,  James 
Kirke  Paulding  and  G.  C.  Verplanck  frequently  wrote 


COOKE  as  KING  LEAR 

Glost.     Let  me  kiss  that  hand. 
Lear.     Let    me    wipe    it    first; 
it  smells  of  mortality. 

One  of  Charles  R.  Leslie's  draw 
ings  in  the  "  Mirror 
of  Taste  " 


224  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

for  it,  and  it  is  said  that  Irving  was  for  a  short  time  its 
editor.  At  any  rate,  he  contributed  a  number  of  biog 
raphies  of  heroes  of  the  War  of  1812  and  essays  later 
included  in  "  The  Sketch  Book,"  all  anonymously. 

Irving  often  wrote  to  and  visited  the  financial  sponsor 
of  the  magazine,  and  the  two  men  were  warm  friends. 
Thomas  published  many  of  his  early  works  and  his 
reputation  as  an  author  was  established  and  ex 
tended  through  Philadelphia.  In  1819  Thomas  re 
vived  "  Salmagundi  "  for  Paulding,  Irving  being  at  the 
time  in  Europe,  and  the  second  series  of  this  publication, 
which  had  made  a  name  for  itself  in  New  York,  ap 
peared  fortnightly  for  about  a  year  at  Thomas's  shop 
in  lower  Chestnut  Street. 

Of  life  in  Philadelphia  Irving  had  many  glimpses  at 
this  time,  suffering  particularly  at  the  tea-parties,  where 
he  was  subjected  to  "  an  artillery  of  glances  "  from  long 
rows  of  young  ladies,  "  disposed  close  together  like  a 
setting  of  jewels  or  pearls  round  a  locket  in  all  the  maj 
esty  of  good  behaviour."  He  found  them  agreeable 
except  when  they  sought  to  be  witty,  at  which  times  he 
said,  "  if  I  might  be  allowed  to  speak  my  mind,"  they 
are  "  very  disagreeable,  especially  to  young  gentlemen 
who  are  travelling  for  information."  Punning  was  the 
peculiar  vice  of  the  Philadelphians.  "  I  cannot  speak 
two  sentences,"  said  Irving,  "  but  that  I  see  a  pun  gath 
ering  in  the  faces  of  my  hearers.  I  absolutely  shudder 
with  horror.  Think  what  miseries  I  suffer  —  me  to 
whom  a  pun  is  an  abomination.'1 

The  "Analectic"  in  July,  1819,  published  the  first 
lithograph  made  in  America,  a  woodland  scene  done 
upon  a  stone  from  Munich  which  was  presented  to  the 
American  Philosophical  Society  by  Thomas  Dobson,  the 


AN    EARLY    WOOD   CUT 
From    "Graham's    Magazine" 


THE    FIRST   AMERICAN    LITHOGRAPH 

From   the   "Analcctic   Magazine" 


IN  TRANSITION  225 

bookseller  and  publisher.  It  was  said  that  the  draw 
ings  could  also  be  made  upon  stone  from  Kentucky  and 
a  white  marble  quarried  in  Lancaster  and  Montgomery 
Counties  in  Pennsylvania.  The  experiments  with  native 
stone  had  only  just  begun  and  Philadelphia's  artists  and 
engravers,  of  whom  there  was  so  large  a  company  drawn 
hither  to  minister  to  the  active  publishing  trades,  were 
thus  made  acquainted  with  a  new  process  that  was  soon 
to  become  an  important  influence  in  the  popularization 
of  books  and  magazines. 


CHAPTER  VII 

LITERARY    DEMOCRACY 

The  city  now  came  without  delay  into  the  age  when 
publishers  sought  to  bring  their  magazines  and  books  to 
the  attention  of  increasing  numbers  of  people.  If  they 
were  to  succeed  in  this  effort,  they  must  cease  to  print 
excerpts  from  the  British  reviews,  or  collections  of 
articles  by  American  writers  patterned  after  those  in 
the  European  magazines.  In  truth,  there  was  nothing 
for  them,  whether  they  liked  it  or  not,  but  to  bow  down 
obsequiously  before  the  man  and  woman  who  had  barely 
learned  to  read  at  all,  and  wished  for  their  first  exercises 
what  their  untrained  intellects  could  easily  understand. 
There  were  men  in  plenty  now,  as  a  writer  in  the 
"  American  Quarterly  "  observed,  to  whose  ears  "  the 
hiss  of  a  locomotive  is  sweeter  music  than  the  happiest 
stanza  that  ever  melted  like  the  honey  of  Hybla  from 
the  divine  pen  of  a  poet."  It  was  an  age  of  low-priced 
newspapers  and  magazines  filled  with  cheap,  tawdry 
stories,  sentimental  poetry,  pictures,  puzzles,  articles 
about  the  fashions  of  dress  and  cookery,  and  material  to 
minister  to  all  the  rubbishy  interests  of  the  great  droves 
of  mankind,  bringing  many  up,  carrying  a  few  down, 
and  maintaining  all  at  a  common  level,  which  meant 
handsome  rewards  for  the  publishers. 

The  first  of  these  cheap  literary  papers  was  the  "  Sat 
urday  Evening  Post,"  the  lineal  descendant  of  Benjamin 
Franklin's  "  Pennsylvania  Gazette."  This  periodical 

226 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  227 

had  been  riding  the  waves  of  adversity  for  many  years, 
but  in  1821,  at  the  death  of  David  Hall,  a  grandson  of 
Franklin's  old  partner,  it  came  into  the  hands  of  Samuel 
C.  Atkinson,  who  had  had  a  financial  interest  in  it  for 
some  time,  and  Charles  Alexander,  another  Philadelphia 
journalist.  In  1821  Robert  S.  Coffin  came  to  the 
city  from  West  Chester,  where  he  had  worked  in 
the  office  of  the  "  Village  Record,"  a  paper  which  had 
several  notable  graduates,  among  others  Bayard  Taylor. 
He  wrote  verses  under  the  name  of  the  "  Boston  Bard  " 
and  began  the  publication  of  a  literary  paper  called  the 
"  Bee,"  which  failed  almost  instantly.  The  subscrip 
tion  lists  of  the  "  Bee  "  and  the  "  Gazette  "  were  now 
merged,  and  the  result,  on  August  4,  1821,  was  the 
"  Saturday  Evening  Post,"  under  the  editorship  of 
Thomas  Cottrell  Clarke. 

The  paper  was  established  in  an  office  which  had  once 
been  occupied  by  Franklin  himself,  in  Market  Street,  a 
few  doors  below  Second  Street,  with  some  of  Franklin's 
presses,  type  and  other  printing-house  relics  to  link  the 
undertaking  with  the  past.  Several  other  periodicals 
which  endeavored  to  rival  it  were  absorbed,  and  it  went 
on  its  way  victoriously  for  many  years.  Clarke  ceased 
to  be  its  editor  in  1828,  and  he  was  followed  by  a  num 
ber  of  men  whose  names  are  well  known  in  the  literary 
annals  of  the  city,  including  Charles  J.  Peterson,  his 
cousin,  Henry  Peterson,  the  author  of  "  Pemberton;  " 
Rufus  W.  Griswold,  the  critic;  Morton  McMichael, 
Colonel  Samuel  D.  Patterson,  George  R.  Graham  and 
Horatio  Hastings  Weld.  It  had  many  publishers  and 
was  issued  from  many  offices.  In  1827  its  owners 
boasted  that  its  circulation  was  "  rising  7,000  papers 
every  week,"  and  a  time  came  when  this  number,  large 


228  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

as  it  then  seemed  to  be,  was  distanced  handsomely,  and 
it  could  be  said  with  truth  that  there  was  no  part  of  the 
United  States  which  the  "  Post  "  did  not  penetrate.  G. 
P.  R.  James,  Mrs.  Henry  Wood,  who  wrote  "  East 
Lynne;  "  Mary  Howitt,  and  several  leading  English 
authors  of  the  day,  sent  their  stories  to  the  editor,  as  did 
many  native  writers.  Its  vogue  at  length  passed,  and  it 
remained  for  the  "  Post's  "  present  owners,  the  Curtis 
Publishing  Company,  to  raise  it  from  its  sunken  estate 
to  the  popularity  which  it  now  enjoys,  and  which  was  not 
within  the  bounds  of  the  imagination  of  the  magazine 
proprietors  of  a  less  ambitious  age. 

The  success  of  this  undertaking  encouraged  others 
to  found  periodicals,  and  the  city  became  the  home  of  a 
large  group  of  publishers,  editors,  writers  and  engravers 
who  sought  a  livelihood  from  the  movement  to  make 
magazines  for  ladies  and  ladies  for  magazines.  When 
Clarke  left  the  u  Saturday  Evening  Post  "  he  established 
"  The  Album  and  Ladies'  Weekly  Gazette,"  and  there 
were  also  "  The  Ladies'  Literary  Portfolio,"  "The 
Casket,  or  Flowers  of  Literature,  Wit  and  Sentiment," 
"  The  Ladies'  Garland  "  and  so  on  indefinitely. 

There  had  been  imported  from  England  about  this 
time  the  "  Forget-me-not,"  "  Souvenir,"  "  Evergreen," 
or  "  Wreath  "  (the  book  had  many  names),  a  volume 
of  verses,  sketches  and  stories,  "  caskets  of  brilliant 
gems,"  issued  annually.  The  first  of  these  to  make  its 
appearance  in  this  country  was  the  "  Atlantic  Souvenir," 
which  was  published  in  Philadelphia.  Their  number 
multiplied  so  rapidly  that  they  defeated  their  own  pur 
poses,  and  after  a  few  years  they  were  seen  no  more. 
They  were  issued  in  time  to  be  used  as  Christmas  or 
New  Year  presents,  and  at  least  one,  "The  Gift,"  of 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  229 

which  more  deserves  to  be  said,  attained  a  high  degree 
of  literary  excellence. 

Louis  A.  Godey  was  the  jirst  great  prince  in  the  mak 
ing  of  lady  books,  and  he  soon  had  a  magazine  on  the 
market  which  outstripped  the  "  Saturday  Evening  Post  " 
in  the  race  for  literary  popularity.  Born  humbly  in 
,'New  York  in  1804,  he  was  employed  for  a  time  in  a 
broker's  office  in  that  city.  He  was  self-educated,  and 
having  literary  aspirations,  in  1828  was  drawn  to  Phila 
delphia.  At  first  he  was  a  clerk  for  a  newspaper  pub 
lisher,  and  in  1830  issued  the  initial  number  of  his 
"  Lady's  Book."  He  had  purchased  some  old  plates 
from  the  owner  of  a  defunct  publication  and,  taking  his 
articles  from  British  papers,  made  a  modest  and 
dubious  entry  into  the  literary  world.  The  maga 
zine,  if  not  instantaneously  successful,  at  once  gave 
promise  of  its  future  strength.  An  important  change 
came  over  it  in  1837,  when  it  was  merged  with  the 
"  Ladies'  Magazine  "  of  Boston,  the  oldest  periodical 
of  the  kind  in  the  United  States.  For  several  years  the 
Boston  magazine  had  been  edited  by  Mrs.  Sarah  Jose- 
pha  Hale,  who  now  assumed  editorial  control  of  the 
combined  publications.  Her  husband  had  been  a  lawyer 
in  New  Hampshire  and,  left  a  widow  with  five  children 
dependent  upon  her,  the  eldest  but  seven  years  old,  she 
entered  upon  a  literary  career  with  a  two-volume  novel 
called  "  Northwood,"  which  was  published  in  Boston  in 
1827.  Writing  verses,  sketches,  stories,  long  novels, 
and  essays,  and  compiling  and  editing  the  works  of  oth 
ers  were  her  life-long  pursuits,  and  her  literary  career 
was  one  of  phenomenal  activity.  For  a  time  she  edited 
"  Godey's  "  from  Boston,  but  in  1841  removed  to  Phil 
adelphia,  and  her  name  was  closely  identified  with  the 


23o  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

magazine  until  1877.  She  was  then  nearly  ninety  years 
old.  In  addition  to  her  literary  work  she  had  been  the 
originator  or  patron  of  many  philanthropic  movements 
designed  to  benefit  her  sex  and  mankind  generally,  being 
the  moving  spirit  in  a  great  fair  at  which  the  money  was 
raised  to  complete  the  Bunker  Hill  monument. 

It  is  to  her  persevering  and  indefatigable  exertions 
also  that  we  owe  our  national  Thanksgiving  Day,  which, 
before  she  began  her  labors,  was  celebrated  by  the  differ 
ent  states  upon  different  days  in  a  haphazard  fashion. 

It  was  little  thought  by  Mrs.  Hale,  when  she  casu 
ally  wrote  some  children's  poems  for  Dr.  Lowell  Mason 
of  Boston  to  be  published  in  1830  in  a  small  pamphlet 
now  very  rare,  that  the  verses  beginning  — 

"  If  ever  I  see 

On  bush  or  tree 
Young  birds  in  a  pretty  nest, 

I  must  not  in  my  play 

Steal  the  birds  away 
To  grieve  their  mother's  breast," 

and  the  universally  popular 

"  Mary  had  a  little  lamb, 
Its  fleece  was  white  as  snow," 

would  be  her  title  to  remembrance  by  later  generations. 

From  1840  to  1850  the  magazine  was  at  the  height 
of  its  popularity  and  influence.  Mr.  Godey  published 
the  names  of  his  writers.  The  mystery  which  had  ear 
lier  surrounded  literary  work,  especially  in  the  maga 
zines,  was  removed,  and  many  who  wrote  acceptably  to 
his  readers  were  helped  into  reputations  by  this  enter 
prising  man.  He  also  paid  his  authors.  At  first  he 


From    a   portrait   loaned    by   her   granddaughter, 
Mary   Stockton   Hunter 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  231 

"  drew  from  English  periodicals  and  books  the  mental 
bouquets  monthly  spread  before  his  readers,"  but  this 
practice  ceased.  "  We  were  the  first  to  introduce  the 
system  of  calling  forth  the  slumbering  talent  of  our 
country  by  offering  an  equivalent  for  the  efforts  of 
genius,"  he  wrote  in  1840.  The  demand  was  princi 
pally  for  trivial,  albeit  entirely  innocent,  love  stories  and 
sentimental  sketches.  These  were  supplied  by  many 
writers:  Miss  Eliza  Leslie,  T.  S.  Arthur,  Miss  Sedg- 
wick,  "  Grace  Greenwood  "  (Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Lippincott) , 
Mrs.  Lydia  H.  Sigourney,  for  a  time  Mrs.  Hale's  as 
sistant  in  the  editor's  chair;  Miss  Buchanan,  afterward 
Mrs.  Annan;  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  who  had  not  yet 
written  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  ";  Alice  Neal,  the  young 
widow  of  the  author  of  the  "  Charcoal  Sketches  "  ;  Mrs. 
E.  F.  Ellet,  who  wrote  stories  and  romantic  historical 
sketches,  and  many  more. 

But  no  American  writer  was  too  great  to  disdain  a 
place  in  "  Godey's  "  pages  or  to  despise  the  remunera 
tion  which  came  from  writing  for  it.  Edgar  Allan  Poe 
contributed  many  stories,  reviews  and  criticisms,  while 
the  names  of  Washington  Irving,  Nathaniel  Haw 
thorne,  William  Gilmore  Simms,  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes,  James  K.  Paulding,  Park  Benjamin,  Theodore 
L.  Cuyler,  Thomas  Dunn  English,  N.  P.  Willis,  who 
was  heralded  for  a  time  as  a  regular  contributor  and 
three  younger  Pennsylvania  writers,  Bayard  Taylor,  T. 
Buchanan  Read  and  Charles  Godfrey  Leland,  of  whom 
more  was  soon  to  be  heard,  were  frequently  seen  in  the 
magazine.  Indeed,  at  one  period  not  a  month  passed 
without  the  publication  of  articles  by  writers  whose 
names  now  have  an  established  place  in  American  liter 
ature. 


232  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Godey  was  a  skilful  advertiser  of  his  wares.  He  de 
clared,  with  truth,  that  he  expended  more  money  in  the 
production  of  his  magazine  than  any  other  lady  book 
publisher  of  the  time.  With  each  issue  he  gave  his  sub 
scribers  a  number  of  admirably  executed  steel  engrav 
ings,  colored  fashion-plates,  patterns  for  the  use  of 
needle-women,  models  of  cottages,  furniture,  etc.  In 
deed,  he  sent  artists  abroad  to  describe  and  picture  the 
fashions  of  England  and  France.  It  was  a  literary 
event  in  America  when  the  circulation  of  "  Godey's  " 
reached  fifteen  thousand  copies.  In  1850  it  was  about 
eighty  thousand,  and  in  the  year  before  the  war  ninety- 
eight  thousand  five  hundred  copies. 

It  was  announced  by  Mr.  Godey  very  exultantly 
that  it  had  cost  him  $105,200  to  produce  the  "  Lady's 
Book  "  in  1859,  the  coloring  of  his  fashion-plates  alone 
calling  for  an  expenditure  of  $8,000.  If  these  may 
seem  not  great  sums  to  the  magazine  publisher  of  this 
day,  they  were  large  for  that  time.  "  Hundreds  of 
magazines  have  been  started  and  after  a  short  life  have 
departed,"  wrote  Mr.  Godey  in  1853,  "while  the 
4  Lady's  Book  '  alone  stands  triumphant,  a  proud  monu 
ment  reared  by  the  Ladies  of  America  as  a  testimony  of 
their  own  worth." 

This  Barnum  of  the  Philadelphia  publishing  trade 
was  a  large-hearted,  amiable  man  who  made  a  great  for 
tune  from  his  magazine  and  the  other  publications  with 
which  his  name  was  identified.  He  lived  in  the  enjoy 
ment  of  his  wealth  at  1517  Chestnut  Street.  Publish 
ing  centres  and  the  standards  of  taste  having  changed, 
the  magazine  was  of  diminishing  importance  after  the 
war,  and  in  1877  Godey  sold  it  to  a  stock  company. 
He  died  in  1878,  Mrs.  Hale  in  1879,  and  the  "  Book  " 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  233 

itself  gradually  disappeared  after  a  truly  famous  career 
covering  a  half  century. 

Of  Godey's  writers  in  Philadelphia,  Eliza  Leslie,  T. 
S.  Arthur,  Alice  Neal,  and  "  Grace  Greenwood  "  were 
perhaps  the  most  active  and  typical. 

Miss  Leslie,  described  by  Mr.  Godey  in  his  magazine 
as  "  a  true  daughter  of  Philadelphia,"  was  the  sister  of 
Charles  Robert  Leslie,  the  artist.  Their  father  was  a 
respectable  Philadelphia  watchmaker.  In  one  of 
Godey's  story  contests,  Miss  Leslie  was  given  the  prize 
for  a  tale  afterward  published  in  the  "  Lady's  Book," 
"  Mrs.  Washington  Potts."  Subsequently  she  wrote 
for  Mr.  Godey  almost  constantly  until  she  established  a 
magazine  of  her  own  called  "  Miss  Leslie's  Magazine." 
All  her  work  had  a  quiet  humor,  and  her  stories  afforded 
innocent  entertainment  in  multitudes  of  American  homes. 

T.  S.  (Timothy  Shay)  Arthur  was  a  native  of  New 
York  State.  He  came  to  the  city  when  about  thirty 
years  of  age  and  resided  here  for  nearly  fifty  years,  or 
until  his  death  in  1885.  He  was  a  most  prolific  writer. 
Harpers  early  began  to  publish  his  books  in  New  York 
and  many  found  their  way  to  England,  where  they  were 
reissued  and  widely  circulated.  "  Sweethearts  and 
Wives,"  "  Lovers  and  Husbands,"  "  Married  and 
Single  "  are  some  of  the  titles  of  his  volumes,  which 
number  upwards  of  one  hundred.  His  "  Ten  Nights  in 
a  Bar-room  "  once  had  a  great  popularity,  and  if  not 
much  read  as  a  book  today,  is  still  seen  upon  the  stage 
in  country  towns.  In  1852  he  started  a  periodical  of 
his  own,  "  Arthur's  Home  Magazine,"  which  was  pub 
lished  for  many  years.  Mr.  Arthur  usually  wrote  with 
some  moral  end  in  view,  and  his  name  became  univer 
sally  known  among  the  American  masses. 


234  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Alice  Neal  was  the  wife,  and  soon  the  widow,  of 
Joseph  Clay  Neal.  the  Philadelphia  humorist  of  whom 
something  may  as  well  be  said  in  this  place.  He  was 
the  son  of  a  New  Hampshire  clergyman  and  educator 
who  had  earlier  been  at  the  head  of  a  female  academy 
in  Philadelphia.  The  father  dying  soon,  the  boy  was 
brought  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  was  reared,  amid  pri 
vations,  by  a  faithful  mother.  He  early  sought  his  for 
tune  with  the  crowd  that  swarmed  to  the  newly  discov 
ered  anthracite  coal  beds  around  Pottsville,  and  after  he 
had  recovered  from  this  fever,  returned  to  the  city, 
where  in  1831  he  entered  newspaper  life.  Neal  was 
connected  for  some  years  with  4i  The  Pennsylvanian,"  an 
evening  newspaper,  succeeding  James  Gordon  Bennett 
as  its  editor  when  that  Scotchman  went  to  the  "  Daily 
Courier,"  a  trivial  and  insincere  journal  which  Philadel- 
phians  did  not  admire  and  which  he  soon  abandoned  to 
continue  his  career  on  more  favorable  ground  in  New 
York  City.  Neal  became  a  popular  humorist,  and  his 
"  Charcoal  Sketches,"  published  at  first  in  the  newspa 
pers,  were  soon  gathered  together  in  books,  to  be  much 
admired  by  Charles  Dickens.  They  are  essentially 
Pickwickian,  in  spite  of  the  thrusts  of  Poe  who  could 
see  no  value  in  them,  being  for  the  most  part  humorous 
delineations  of  frayed-out  seedy  gentlemen.  Indeed, 
there  is  a  good  deal  of  well-directed  social  satire  in  the 
sketches. 

It  is  likely  that  few  readers  of  the  present  generation 
know  of  this  humorist.  The  remarks  of  one  of  his  char 
acters  on  "  making  people  understand  "  may  be  quoted : 
"If  they  won't  be  convinced,  easily  and  genteelly  con 
vinced,"  said  he,  "  you  must  knock  it  into  'em  short 
hand;  if  they  can't  comprehend,  neither  by  due  course  of 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  235 

mail  nor  yet  by  express  you  must  make  'em  understand 
by  telegraph.  You'll  find  it  in  history  books,  that  one 
nation  teaches  another  what  it  didn't  know  before  by 
walloping  it;  that's  the  method  of  civilizing  savages  — 
the  Romans  put  the  whole  world  to  rights  that  way ;  and 
what's  right  on  the  big  figger  muse  be  right  on  the  small 
scale.  In  short,  there's  nothing  like  walloping  for  tak 
ing  the  conceit  out  of  fellows  who  think  they  know  more 
than  their  betters." 

It  was  through  the  "  Saturday  Gazette,"  usually 
called  "  Neal's  Gazette,"  which  he  founded  in  1841, 
that  the  humorist  met  the  young  woman  who  became  so 
popular  with  readers  of  Godey's  magazine.  A  native 
of  New  York  State,  she  had  gone  to  school  in  New 
England,  where  she  wrote  some  sketches  that  were  sent 
to  Mr.  Neal  for  his  paper.  Indeed,  she  contributed  to 
several  publications  under  the  name  of  Alice  G.  Lee. 
Neal  discovered  in  a  year  or  two  that  his  contributor  was 
Miss  Emily  Bradley.  Late  in  1846  he  sought  her  out 
and  brought  her  to  Philadelphia  as  his  wife.  In  about 
six  months  after  his  marriage  he  died  and  she,  still  but 
nineteen  years  of  age,  took  his  place  as  the  editor  of  his 
paper.  She  had  retained  the  name  of  Alice  at  his  re 
quest,  and  as  Alice  B.  Neal,  or  "  Cousin  Alice,"  her  sig 
nature  became  familiar  to  all  readers  of  the  popular 
magazines.  In  1853  sne  niarried  Samuel  L.  Haven  and 
abandoned  the  "  Gazette "  and  Philadelphia,  signing 
her  name  to  future  writings  as  Alice  Bradley  Haven. 

"  Grace  Greenwood,"  who  was  a  prolific  writer  for 
"  Godey's  "  until  her  anti-slavery  sentiments  caused  her 
to  be  looked  at  askance  by  editors  ambitious  to  hold 
their  Southern  subscribers,  was  born  Sara  Jane  Clarke  in 
Onondaga  County,  N.  Y.,  in  1823.  When  she  was 


236  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

twenty,  her  father  removed  to  New  Brighton,  a  small 
place  near  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  whence  issued  a  number  of 
poems  under  her  own  name  and  some  "  witty,  saucy,  and 
dashing  "  letters  signed  "  Grace  Greenwood/'  all  pub 
lished  in  the  New  York  "  Mirror."  In  1853  she  mar 
ried  Leander  K.  Lippincott,  a  publisher  of  Philadelphia, 
and  for  several  years  conducted  a  juvenile  magazine  in 
this  city  called  "  The  Little  Pilgrim."  In  later  years 
she  travelled  widely  for  various  newspapers,  and  at  the 
time  of  her  death,  which  occurred  recently,  lived  in  the 
neighborhood  of  New  York  City.  Her  writings  ex 
haled  a  strong  atmosphere  of  sentiment,  and  in  value  did 
not  rise  above  the  general  average  of  their  class. 

After  Mr.  Godey,  the  Petersons  were  doubtless  lead 
ing  influences  to  feminize  literature  in  Philadelphia. 
This  was  a  numerous  family,  several  members  of  which 
for  many  years  were  closely  connected  with  the  book  and 
magazine  publishing  trade  in  the  city,  and  some  of  the 
name,  notably  Henry  Peterson  and  Charles  J.  Peterson, 
were  writers  of  popularity. 

Charles  J.  Peterson  was  one  of  a  large  number  of 
brothers  descended  from  a  Swede  who  early  settled  on 
the  Delaware.  Pie  was  educated  for  the  law  in  an  office 
in  which  George  R.  Graham,  of  "  Graham's  Magazine," 
was  also  a  student,  and  was  interested  with  that  man, 
Godey,  Morton  McMichael  and  others  in  a  variety  of 
publishing  enterprises,  which  led,  however,  to  no  notable 
results.  Besides  many  magazine  articles,  he  wrote  a 
number  of  volumes  of  popular  history  and  some  fiction 
in  which  he  utilized  local  antiquarian  lore.  In  1840 
he  entered  the  lady  book  field  with  "  Peterson's  Maga 
zine,"  called  at  first  "  The  Ladies'  National  Magazine." 
While  some  of  Godey's  writers  were  secured  for  this 


FRONTISPIECE 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  237 

periodical,  it  was  an  inferior  publication  in  nearly  all  re 
spects.  Like  "  Godey's,"  it  served  the  public  for  its  day 
and  then  disappeared  in  competition  with  magazines 
better  able  to  interpret  popular  moods  and  gratify  public 
tastes. 

Charles  J.  Peterson's  brother,  T.  B.  (Theophilus 
Beasley)  Peterson,  who  had  begun  life  as  a  clerk  in  a 
dry-goods  store,  established  in  Philadelphia  what  soon 
became  a  large  and  profitable  book  publishing  business 
with  two  other  brothers,  George  and  Thomas  Peterson, 
the  firm  being  known  afterward  as  T.  B.  Peterson  and 
Brothers.  In  1846  the  house,  which  was  long  located 
at  306  Chestnut  Street,  began  to  stereotype  and  plate 
popular  books  and  send  them  out  in  a  cheap  form  to  all 
parts  of  the  country.  Works  which  had  cost  several 
dollars  a  volume  were  offered  for  sale  at  twenty-five  or 
fifty  cents.  While  no  great  literary  object  was  served 
by  the  house,  it  published  for  several  Philadelphia  au 
thors,  and  gained  a  reputation  among  classes  of  the 
people  who  were  casting  aside  the  almanac  of  the  chim 
ney-corner  for  fashion-papers,  cook-books,  guides  to 
behavior  and  tawdry  novels  with  sensational  plots. 

Henry  Peterson,  for  a  long  time  editor  and  part  own 
er  of  the  "  Saturday  Evening  Post,"  was  undoubtedly 
the  most  capable  of  all  who  bore  the  name,  and  he  is 
chiefly  to  be  remembered  for  "  Pemberton,"  the  precur 
sor  of  the  modern  Revolutionary  novel.  His  story  pre 
ceded  by  several  years  the  series  with  which  the  country 
was  swept  in  the  wake  of  that  most  successful  and  well 
executed  Revolutionary  romance,  Dr.  Mitchell's  "  Hugh 
Wynne."  The  same  episodes,  the  battle  of  German- 
town,  the  Meschianza,  and  the  loves  of  English  officers 
for  American  maids  in  Philadelphia  during  the  city's  oc- 


238  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

cupation  by  the  British  army,  which  are  utilized  in 
"  Pemberton "  later  formed  a  background  of  great 
attraction  to  novel  writers  and  novel  readers.  The  book 
appeared  in  1872  when,  with  the  Centennial  Exhibition 
in  prospect,  the  popular  mind  dwelt  with  interest  and 
pleasure  upon  the  events  of  the  Revolutionary  epoch. 
The  principal  thread  of  love  running  through  the  tale  is 
found  in  Andre's  devotion  to  Helen  Graham,  one  of  the 
reigning  belles  of  Philadelphia,  who  is  made  the  inter 
mediary  in  the  negotiations  with  Benedict  Arnold,  and 
an  instrument  in  the  plot  at  the  ball  in  the  mansion  at 
Bush  Hill  to  drug  and  abduct  General  Washington,  an 
enormity  she  will  not  assist  to  perpetrate.  While  the 
story  has  undoubted  interest,  little  enough  art  is  shown 
in  putting  the  incidents  together.  The  hand  of  the 
skilled  novelist  is  not  seen  in  the  utilization  of  the  ma 
terial,  and  the  sentiment,  which  is  of  the  mawkish  and 
effusive  kind,  we  usually  associate  with  shop-girls.  The 
aristocratic  young  women  of  Philadelphia  of  the  Revo 
lution  are  made  to  talk  like  girls  of  our  modern  middle 
class,  and  Washington,  Andre  and  Arnold  move  in  the 
same  intellectual  atmosphere,  soon  jading  fastidious 
tastes. 

The  novel  was  subsequently  put  upon  the  stage  as 
"  Helen,  or  One  Hundred  Years  Ago,"  and  enjoyed  a 
run  at  the  Chestnut  Street  Theatre  in  Philadelphia  in 
1876  during  the  Centennial,  having  been  provided  with 
showy  settings,  with  views  of  the  Chew  House,  the  Dev 
il's  Pool  in  the  Wissahickon,  the  Meschianza  and  the 
old  Walnut  Street  Prison.  There  was  a  revival  of  in 
terest  in  the  novel  a  few  years  ago,  when  it  was  reprinted 
for  another  generation  of  readers,  who  enjoyed  it,  al 
though  knowledge  of  the  book  has  never  passed  far  be- 


FASHION    PLATE 
From  Godcy's  Magazine 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  239 

yond  the  limits  of  the  city  that  gave  birth  to  its  thrilling 
scenes. 

Henry  Peterson's  wife,  Sarah  Webb  Peterson,  was  the 
editor  of  "  The  Lady's  Friend,"  another  lady  book  that 
actively  sought  for  several  years  to  divide  the  field,  so 
profitably  cultivated  by  Mr.  Godey. 

The  demand  was  felt  for  still  cheaper  literary  papers. 
Godey's  magazine  was  published  at  three  dollars  a 
year,  while  Peterson's  was  issued  at  two  dollars.  The 
price  of  the  u  Saturday  Evening  Post  "  was  two  dollars. 
In  1843  Swain,  Abel]  and  Simmons  of  the  "  Public 
Ledger  "  began  to  publish  "  The  Dollar  Newspaper.'* 
A  prize  of  one  hundred  dollars  having  been  offered  for 
the  best  short  story,  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  who  had  sold 
"  The  Gold  Bug  "  to  Mr.  Graham  for  fifty-two  dollars, 
begged  that  it  might  be  returned  to  him  to  be  entered  in 
this  attractive  competition.  The  committee,  of  which 
Robert  T.  Conrad,  the  Philadelphia  poet  and  dramatist, 
was  the  principal  member,  awarded  the  premium  to  Poe, 
and  in  June,  1843,  tne  story  was  printed  in  the  new 
paper.  The  publishers  found  that  they  had  undertaken 
to  give  their  subscribers  too  much  for  one  dollar,  and 
they  at  length  changed  the  name  of  their  periodical  and 
increased  its  price. 

Another  not  wholly  satisfactory  result  of  the  popular 
ization  of  literature  was  the  development  of  the  melo 
drama,  which  had  come  into  favor  with  so  many  Phila 
delphia  actors  and  playwrights;  and  the  blood-curdling 
novel  written  in  florid  language  of  the  type  made  rather 
famous  by  George  Lippard.  The  city  now  had  several 
dramatists,  and  their  plays  were  being  seen  with  satis 
faction  at  the  theatres. 

James  Fennell,  an  English  tragedian  of  note,  came  to 


240  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

this  country  in  1793,  and  lived  in  Philadelphia  for  much 
of  his  time  until  his  death,  in  dissipation  and  poverty,  in 
1816.  He  wrote  several  comedies  and  an  autobi 
ography,  or,  as  he  called  it,  an  u  Apology  "  for  his  mis 
used  life. 

James  N.  Barker,  a  native  of  Philadelphia,  a  soldier 
in  the  war  of  1812,  a  politician,  the  mayor  of  the  city  in 
1820,  a  writer  of  verse  and  a  dramatist,  was  the  author 
of  several  thrilling  plays,  among  them  "  Marmion," 
"  The  Indian  Princess  "  and  "  Superstition." 

"  Marmion  "  was  notable  for  having  been  the  cause 
of  a  demonstration  in  the  Chestnut  Street  Theatre  dur 
ing  the  war  of  1812  which  was  long  remembered  by 
those  who  witnessed  it.  John  Duff  was  playing  the 
leading  part.  He  had  rendered  the  lines: — 

"  My  Lord,  my  Lord,  under  such  injuries 
How  shall  a  free  and  gallant  nation  act? 
Still  lay  its  sovereignty  at  England's  feet, 
Still  basely  ask  a  boon  from  England's  bounty, 
Still  vainly  hope  redress  from  England's  justice? 
No,  by  our  martyred  fathers'  memories; 
The  land  may  sink  —  but  like  a  glorious  wreck 
'Twill  keep  its  colors  flying  to  the  last." 

At  this  speech  the  author's  venerable  father,  General 
John  Barker,  also  for  several  years  the  mayor  of  the 
city  and  a  prominent  politician  and  town  figure,  got  up 
from  his  seat  in  a  box,  swung  his  cane  over  his  head  and 
shouted : 

"No,  sir,  no;  we'll  nail  them  to  the  mast  and  sink 
with  the  stars  and  stripes  before  we'll  yield." 

A  patriotic  outburst  of  applause  followed  this  declar 
ation  which  interrupted  the  progress  of  the  play  for  sev 
eral  minutes. 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  241 

David  Paul  Brown  (1795-1872)  was  a  remarkably 
successful  lawyer,  an  acceptable  orator  upon  public  occa 
sions  and  a  picturesque  citizen.  He  aspired  to  be  a 
dramatist  also.  His  tragedy,  "  Sertorius,  or  the  Roman 
Patriot,"  was  written  on  his  evening  horse-back  rides  to 
Yellow  Springs,  the  popular  spa  of  the  day  in  the  hills 
of  northern  Chester  County.  Although  the  elder 
Booth  had  the  title  role,  the  play  was  acted  only  nine 
times.  A  tragedy,  "  The  Trial,"  and  a  melodrama, 
"  The  Prophet  of  St.  Paul's,"  met  even  less  favor  on 
the  stage. 

Mordecai  M.  Noah,  the  Jewish  lawyer,  politician  and 
journalist,  who  was  born  in  Philadelphia  and  lived 
here  for  some  years  before  his  permanent  removal  to 
New  York  in  1813,  was  the  author  of  several  plays,  in 
cluding  "  Paul  and  Alexis,  or  the  Orphans  on  the 
Rhine,"  first  produced  in  Charleston,  and  afterward  re 
vived,  without  the  author's  knowledge  or  consent,  as 
"  The  Wandering  Boys" ;  and  "  She  Would  Be  a  Sol- 
dier,  or  the  Battle  of  Chippewa,"  written  for  an  Eng 
lish  actress  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made  on  a  recent 
voyage  from  Europe.  A  generous,  merry,  versatile 
soul,  he  became  very  popular  in  the  green  rooms,  where 
"  the  Major,"  as  he  was  called,  frequently  had  requests 
for  plays.  In  this  way  he  wrote  "  Marion,  or  the 
Hero  of  Lake  George,"  "  The  Grecian  Captive  "  and 
"  The  Siege  of  Tripoli,"  all  of  which  had  considerable 
fleeting  success. 

The  chief  impulse  to  serious  dramatic  writing  in  the 
city  came  from  Edwin  Forrest,  a  Philadelphian  by  birth 
and  of  choice.  Even  when  he  dwelt  in  his  castle  on  the 
Hudson,  Philadelphia  was  his  home.  Here  he  came  to 
spend  his  old  age  in  a  brown-stone  mansion  at  the  cor- 


242  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

nerof  Broad  and  Master  Streets,  now  the  School  of  De 
sign  for  Women.  Here  he  died;  and  here  he  left  a 
most  worthy  memorial,  the  home  for  aged  actors  and 
actresses,  established  on  his  country  estate,  "  Spring 
Brook, "  near  Frankford,  which  still  lives  by  his  charity. 
Forrest  was  the  son  of  an  unsuccessful  merchant  of 
Scotch  descent,  who  in  his  last  years  was  employed  in 
the  Girard  Bank.  Alexander  Wilson,  the  ornithologist, 
taught  the  boy  elocution.  For  a  time  he  was  employed 
by  Duane  on  the  "  Aurora,"  since  it  was  necessary  for 
him  to  seek  a  living  for  himself  at  a  very  early  age. 
But  his  love  for  the  stage  asserted  itself  and  he  began 
his  great  career  as  a  tragedian,  the  first  actor  of  heroic 
proportions  which  the  country  had  produced.  By  the 
year  1829,  although  still  but  twenty-three  years  old,  For 
rest  had  laid  by  a  small  fortune,  having  first  paid  his 
father's  debts.  He  made  a  series  of  offers  of  prizes  for 
original  plays  by  American  authors  in  order  if  possible 
to  create  an  American  dramatic  literature.  Judging 
committees  were  appointed,  consisting  of  William  Cul- 
len  Bryant,  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  and  other  literary  men, 
and  the  first  award  for  "  the  best  tragedy  in  five  acts  of 
which  the  hero  or  principal  character  shall  be  an  aborig 
inal  of  this  country,"  went  to  John  Augustus  Stone  of 
Philadelphia  for  "  Metamora,  or  the  Last  of  the 
Wampanoags."  Forrest  expended  at  least  $20,000  for 
the  encouragement  of  the  native  drama,  says  Alger,  his 
biographer,  and,  although  hundreds  of  works  were  sub 
mitted  and  the  judges  were  nearly  all  New  Yorkers,  the 
prizes  invariably  fell  to  Philadelphia  writers.  Thus 
he  obtained  "  Metamora  "  and  "  The  Ancient  Briton," 
by  Stone;  "  The  Gladiator,"  "  Oraloosa,"  "  Pelopidas  " 
and  "  The  Broker  of  Bogota,"  by  Dr.  Robert  Mont- 


'  LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  243 

gomery  Bird;  "  Caius  Marius,"  by  Richard  Perm  Smith, 
and  "  Aylmere,"  by  Robert  T.  Conrad.* 

After  their  trial  all  but  four  proved  practically  to 
be  failures, —  or  at  least  unsuited  to  Forrest's  big 
physique, —  the  "  Metamora  "  of  Stone,  "  The  Gladia 
tor  "  and  uThe  Broker  of  Bogota"  of  Bird,  and 
"  Aylmere,"  having  places  in  Forrest's  repertoire  both 
in  Europe  and  America  as  long  as  he  continued  to  ap 
pear  upon  the  stage.  Forrest  found  in  these  plays  the 
opportunity  he  desired  for  "  striding,  screeching,  howl 
ing,  tearing  passions  to  tatters,  disregarding  the  sacred 
bounds  of  propriety,"  which,  as  his  biographer,  Alger, 
says,  was  always  the  refrain  in  the  cry  of  his  critics. 
But  this  he  liked,  and  this  his  audiences  demanded  of 
him.  The  melodrama,  in  this  stage  of  the  people's  lit 
erary  development,  was  the  inseparable  companion  of 
the  wishy-washy  lady  books.  "  Faint  ladies,  spruce 
clerks,  spindling  fops  and  perfumed  dandies,"  says  Al 
ger,  "  were  horrified  and  well-nigh  thrown  into  convul 
sions  by  his  Gladiator  and  Jack  Cade.  Their  quivering 
sensitiveness  cowered  before  his  terrible  fire  and  stride, 
and  they  shrank  from  him  with  fear." 

"  Constantly  breaking  into  colossal  attitudes  and  ges 
tures,  lightnings  of  expression  and  thunderbolts  of 
speech,"  he  frightened  but  held  in  some  magical  way 
the  people  whose  senses  Godey  and  Peterson  were  titil 
lating  in  their  mild-mannered  magazines.  He  ap 
pealed  strongly  to  the  American  alter  ego  of  a  curi 
ous  age. 

Of  these  four  Philadelphia  dramatists  who  supplied 

*  It  has  been  asserted  that  Forrest's  prize  play  idea  was  a  mere 
cover  to  obtain  plays  cheaply.  Dr.  Bird  received  $1,000  each  for 
"  The  Gladiator,"  "  Oraloosa "  and  "  The  Broker  of  Bogota,"  and 
was  promised  further  sums  which  never  were  paid. 


244  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Forrest  with  plays,  John  Augustus  Stone,  Richard  Penn 
Smith,  Robert  T.  Conrad  and  Robert  Montgomery 
Bird,  the  first-named  was  probably  the  man  of  the  few 
est  parts. 

Stone  was  a  New  England  actor  who  finally  came  to 
make  his  home  in  Philadelphia.  His  u  Metamora,"  the 
play  which  won  the  prize  in  the  first  contest,  after  its 
initial  production  at  the  Arch  Street  Theatre,  on  January 
22,  1830,  was  performed  again  and  again  with  much 
advantage  to  Forrest  and  the  theatres.  Its  success  was 
almost  entirely  due  to  Forrest's  personality.  He  played 
the  part  of  the  red  Indian  who  died  at  the  head  of  his 
tribe,  the  literary  prototype  of  King  Philip.  Never  be 
fore  had  the  American  aborigine  been  put  upon  the 
stage  with  such  seriousness,  and  Forrest  had  the  figure 
for  just  such  an  impersonation.  He  had  studied  the  In 
dians  in  their  own  haunts,  and  red  delegations  often 
came  to  see  him,  a  party  in  Boston  growing  so  excited  by 
the  realistic  display  that  they  stood  up  in  their  places  and 
chanted  a  dirge  at  the  death  of  the  great  chief.  The 
author  of  several  plays,  this  was  Stone's  principal 
achievement.  In  a  fit  of  despondency  in  1834,  when 
still  but  thirty-three  years  of  age,  he  flung  himself  into 
the  Schuylkill  from  the  Spruce  Street  wharf.  His 
corpse  was  found  floating  in  the  dock  a  few  hours  after 
ward,  to  be  buried  in  Machpelah  Cemetery,  at  Tenth 
and  Prime  Streets,  in  a  spot  which  is  marked  by  a  stone 
bearing  this  inscription:  "  In  memory  of  the  author 
of  Metamora  by  his  friend  Forrest." 

Richard  Penn  Smith  was  a  grandson  of  Provost  Will 
iam  Smith,  and  had  more  flexible  talents  as  a  writer  than 
any  other  member  of  that  gifted  family.  Although  his 
achievements  were  not  such  as  to  entitle  him  to  the  first 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  245 

rank  in  any  field,  he  was  more  successful  as  a  dramatist 
than  as  a  writer  of  verse  or  stories,  both  of  which  he 
essayed  to  do  with  much  gravity.  A  long  two-volume 
novel,  "  The  Forsaken,"  whose  scenes  were  laid  in  and 
around  Philadelphia  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  was 
almost  entirely  devoid  of  interest  or  charm,  although 
many  of  his  short  stories  were  received  by  the  magazines 
and  found  an  audience  when  put  between  book  covers. 

Smith  wrote  several  farces  and  comedies,  such  as  "  A 
Wife  at  a  Venture,"  seen  at  the  Walnut  Street  Theatre; 
"Quite  Correct"  and  "  Is  She  a  Brigand?"  but  his 
successes  were  melodramas.  "  The  Deformed,  or 
Woman's  Trial,"  and  "  The  Disowned,  or  the  Prodi 
gals,"  after  being  played  in  Philadelphia  and  other 
American  cities,  were  produced  in  London.  Many  of 
Mr.  Smith's  plays  were  presented  in  the  Chestnut  Street 
Theatre  when  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rowbotham  and  John 
Darley  were  members  of  the  stock  company  there. 
"  The  Eighth  of  January,"  which  was  given  in  that 
play-house  for  a  few  nights  in  1829,  was  a  daring  nov 
elty.  It  was  a  drama  to  commemorate  the  battle  of 
New  Orleans,  with  Rowbotham  as  General  Jackson. 
Mr.  Smith  truthfully  remarked  of  this  work,  which  was 
done  to  order  for  a  particular  occasion,  that  u  the  diffi 
culty  of  introducing  distinguished  living  characters  on 
the  stage  without  offence  to  propriety  can  be  duly  esti 
mated  by  those  alone  who  have  attempted  it." 

He  also  wrote  a  melodrama,  "  William  Penn," 
which  was  played  for  a  time  at  the  Arch  Street  Theatre. 
"  The  Triumph  at  Pittsburgh  "  and  "  The  Sentinels," 
both  patriotic  plays,  were  put  on  the  stage  at  the  Chest 
nut.  His  Roman  tragedy,  "  Caius  Marius,"  which 
won  a  prize  offered  by  Edwin  Forrest,  was  played  but 


246  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

seldom,  and  "  The  Venetians,"  written  in  a  similar  vein 
for  the  same  actor,  was  not  accounted  a  popular  suc 
cess.  The  entire  list  of  his  dramatic  writings  printed 
and  unprinted  and  performed  and  unperformed  is  a 
long  one. 

Smith  was  born  in  1779,  and  studied  law  under  Will 
iam  Rawle.  He  was  enticed  from  his  practice  for  about 
five  years  to  edit  the  "  Aurora,"  which  he  had  bought 
from  Duane  in  1822.  Finding  this  u  dray  horse  work," 
both  wearying  and  unprofitable,  he  returned  to  the  law, 
varying  it  as  before  with  his  writing.  He  was  a  very 
rapid  worker.  His  plays  were  produced  with  incredible 
speed.  "  The  Eighth  of  January  "  was  sent  to  the  the 
atre  piecemeal,  to  be  copied  for  the  use  of  the  company 
who  were  waiting  for  it  in  order  to  study  their  parts; 
and  of  "  William  Penn  "  it  is  said  that  the  entire  last  act 
was  flung  off  on  the  afternoon  of  the  day  preceding  its 
first  performance.  Mr.  Smith,  it  is  related,  was  rather 
indifferent  to  criticism,  and  it  is  a  story  of  the  old  Phila 
delphia  green  rooms  that,  after  the  curtain  had  fallen 
like  a  pall  upon  one  of  his  pieces,  an  auditor  turned  to 
him  without  knowing  his  connection  with  it  to  ask  what 
the  play  was  all  about.  '  Really,"  Smith  replied,  im- 
perturbably,  u  it  is  now  some  years  since  I  wrote  that 
piece,  and  though  I  paid  the  utmost  attention  to  the  per 
formance  I  confess  I  am  as  much  in  the  dark  as  you 
are."  He  died  at  the  family  seat  at  the  Falls  of  Schuyl- 
kill  in  1854  and  was  buried  with  his  father  and  grand 
father  at  Laurel  Hill. 

Robert  T.  Conrad  was  a  son  of  a  member  of  the  pub 
lishing  firm  which  brought  out  Charles  Brockden 
Brown's  magazine,  Joel  Barlow's  "  Columbiad,"  and 
many  other  books  early  in  the  century.  Educated  for 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  247 

the  law,  he  spoke  and  wrote  frequently  on  political  sub 
jects,  held  judicial  office  that  caused  him  to  be  known 
through  life  as  Judge  Conrad,  and  served  a  term  in  an 
important  emergency  as  mayor  of  the  city.  His  great 
est  pleasure  and  satisfaction,  however,  came  from  his 
writing,  which  was  both  journalistic  and  of  more  endur 
ing  quality.  He  had  had  experience  in  journalism  as  a 
young  man,  and  later  for  many  years  was  an  editor  of 
the  "  North  American/'  For  a  little  while  he  helped 
Mr.  Graham  to  conduct  "  Graham's  Magazine  "  and 
wrote  both  prose  and  verse  for  that  and  other  period 
icals. 

As  a  dramatist,  his  reputation  rests  upon  "  Aylmere, 
or  the  Bondman  of  Kent,"  a  prize  play  frequently  and 
widely  produced  by  Forrest.  This  work  was  founded 
upon  the  incidents  of  the  English  insurrection  of  1450 
for  the  abolition  of  the  biting  wrongs  of  the  feudal  sys 
tem,  which  was  led  by  Jack  Cade.  Forrest  took  the 
part  of  Cade,  and  that  outlaw,  under  Conrad's  treat 
ment,  was  invested  with  much  sympathy,  converted,  in 
deed,  into  a  real  hero  contending  against  monstrous  odds 
for  the  rights  of  the  common  people.  The  author 
aimed  to  clear  the  name  of  the  man,  whom  Shakespeare 
pictured  as  a  despised  rebel  and  a  brutal  demagogue,  of 
the  odium  of  centuries,  and  the  result  was  at  once  a 
poetic  drama  and  an  impassioned  argument  for  democ 
racy.  The  play  was  practically  reconstructed  by  Con 
rad,  under  Forrest's  advice,  in  order  that  it  might  be  bet 
ter  adapted  for  the  stage,  and  the  author  has  said,  what 
is  pretty  obvious,  that  "  to  the  eminent  genius  of  that  un 
rivalled  tragedian  and  liberal  patron  of  dramatic  litera 
ture,  its  flattering  success  at  home  and  abroad  may  be 
justly  ascribed."  The  work,  however,  is  full  of  bold 


248  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

and  rugged  measures  that  mark  it  as  poetic  tragedy  of  a 

high  order.     Says  Aylmere   (Cade)  :  — 

"Alas! 

Alas!  for  England! 

Her  merry  yeomen,  and  her  sturdy  serfs, 
That  made  red  Agincourt  immortal,  now 
Are  trod  like  worms  into  the  earth.     Each  castle 
Is  the  home  of  insolent  rapine,  and  the  bond 
Are  made  the  prey  of  every  wolfy  lord 
Who  wills  their  blood  to  lap.     The  peasant  now 
Weds  in  grim  silence;  kisses  his  first-born 
With  prayers  that  it  may  die,  and  tills  the  glebe, 
Embittering  it  with  tears.     Almighty  God, 
Is  this  my  England?  " 

The  play  of  Jack  Cade  secured  and  held  the  favor 
which  "  Metamora  "  enjoyed.  In  the  part,  says  Alger, 
Forrest  was  "  a  sort  of  dramatic  Demosthenes,  rousing 
the  cowardly  and  slumbering  hosts  of  mankind  to  re 
deem  themselves  with  their  own  right  hands.*' 

An  impulsive  but  brilliant  man,  Conrad  wrote  some 
short  poems  which  have  been  much  admired,  if  they  be 
not  widely  known  today  even  by  students  of  American 
literature.  His  work  does  not  fill  many  volumes,  but  it 
is  robust  and  strong.  There  is  little  to  mark  it  as  the 
product  of  a  delicate  fancy;  we  know  from  Conrad's 
career  in  politics  and  journalism  that  he  had  not  this,  but 
he  did  have  ideas,  deep  feeling  and  a  fair  degree  of  flu 
ency.  In  his  poem,  "  Poland,"  he  writes : — 

"  I  saw  her  —  her  hand  on  her  sword 

And  Hope  kindled  wild  in  her  eye, 
As  she  vowed,  by  her  wrongs,  by  the  faith  she  adored, 
No  longer  to  bow  to  the  Muscovite  lord, 

But  spurn  her  oppressors,  or  die! 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  249 

"  Time  passed :   I  beheld  her  again ; 

Where  now  was  the  glory  of  yore  ? 

She  had  fought,  she  had  conquered,  but  conquered  in  vain, 
For  foes  came  in  nations  —  like  waves  of  the  main  — 

And  Poland  was  Poland  no  more!  " 

Dr.  Robert  Montgomery  Bird  was  clearly  the  best 
and  strongest  of  the  members  of  this  group  of  Philadel 
phia  dramatists.  He  was  born  in  1805,  coming  from 
the  Delaware  family  of  that  name.  Studying  medicine, 
he  soon  abandoned  it  and  devoted  himself  to  literature. 
In  the  last  years  of  his  life,  from  1847  to  1854,  he  was 
the  editor  of  and  the  owner  of  a  one-third  interest  in  the 
"  North  American,"  the  associate  of  Morton  McMi- 
chael,  a  young  man  who  had  already  been  connected 
with  several  Philadelphia  publications  and  was  hencefor 
ward  to  identify  his  name  so  closely  with  the  career  of  a 
useful  and  profitable  newspaper.  As  has  been  said,  Bird 
wrote  three  of  Forrest's  "  prize  plays:  "  "  Oraloosa," 
dealing  with  the  romantic  life  and  tragic  fate  of  the 
Incas  of  Peru;  "The  Gladiator,"  a  Roman  tragedy; 
and  "  The  Broker  of  Bogota,"  a  subtle  study  of  domes 
tic  life  in  South  America.  The  first  of  the  three  was 
not  a  great  success  and  was  produced  but  seldom. 

"  The  Gladiator,"  on  the  other  hand,  was  even  more 
popular  with  Forrest's  audiences  than  "  Metamora." 
The  part  of  Spartacus  afforded  the  opportunity  for  an 
intensely  melodramatic  performance.  In  naked  fighting 
trim,  the  muscles  of  his  great  form  polished  and  hard, 
Forrest,  when  he  appeared  upon  the  stage,  "  used  to 
stand  and  receive  the  long,  tumultuous  cheering  that 
greeted  him  as  immovable  as  a  planted  statue  of  Her 
cules."  It  was  a  play  arousing  all  the  elemental  pas- 


250  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

sions  and  afforded  vast  opportunities  for  the  glare  and 
noise  of  which  his  public  was  so  fond. 

Bird's  third  play,  "  The  Broker  of  Bogota,"  was  a 
tragedy  of  slower  movement,  for  which  reason,  no 
doubt,  it  could  be  played  but  rarely  and  only  to  audi 
ences  of  the  more  discriminating  class.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  said  to  have  been  a  favorite  with  the  great  tragedian 
and  up  to  the  time  of  his  death  he  produced  it  whenever 
he  could.  The  part  of  Baptista  Febro,  an  old  banker, 
broker  and  money  lender  of  Bogota,  was  closely  studied 
by  Forrest  and  with  psychological  faithfulness.  As  it 
was  the  best  play  for  Forrest,  so  is  it  the  best  for  Dr. 
Bird,  the  work  which  shows  him  at  his  full  worth  as  a 
dramatist. 

The  material  for  two  of  his  prize  plays,  "  The  Broker 
of  Bogota  "  and  "  Oraloosa,"  was  drawn  from  his  re 
searches  into  the  history  and  civilization  of  South  Amer 
ica,  and  the  scenes  of  at  least  two  of  his  novels,  which 
the  Careys  published,  "  Calavar  "  and  "  The  Infidel," 
were  laid  in  Mexico  at  the  time  of  the  conquest.  Al 
though  he  had  never  visited  Latin  America,  Bird  knew 
the  Spanish  language  and  carefully  studied  the  people 
and  the  land  in  books,  both  Prescott  and  Parkman  attest 
ing  in  footnotes  to  the  accuracy  of  his  work. 

"  Calavar,"  which  was  published  in  1834,  was  much 
admired.  It  was  suggestive  of  Scott.  A  writer  in  the 
"  Knickerbocker  Magazine  "  said  of  it:  "  We  shall  be 
exceedingly  mistaken  if  the  work  does  not  at  once  place 
the  author  in  the  very  highest  rank  among  the  writers 
of  America."  Poe,  who  always  praised  sparingly,  said 
that  it  was  "  beyond  doubt  one  of  the  best  of  American 
novels."  There  were  several  printings  of  the  book  and 
its  vogue  was  revived  during  the  Mexican  War. 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  251 

"  The  Hawks  of  Hawk  Hollow/'  a  story  of  the  up 
per  Delaware  valley  around  the  Water  Gap,  was  not  so 
successful,  but  Bird's  Kentucky  story,  "  Xick  of  the 
Woods,"  was  as  good  an  Indian  tale  as  was  ever  written 
by  Cooper,  who,  it  may  be  observed,  narrowly  iniwd 
being  a  Philadelphian,  coming  of  Pennsylvania  stock  as 
he  did  and  being  born  across  the  river  at  Burlington, 
although  he  early  removed  to  New  York  State. 

What  a  good  critic  truthfully  said  of  "  Calavar,"  — 
that  "  the  whole  tone  of  the  composition  was  "^iff***, 
chastened  and  thoroughly  elaborated,  evincing  with  the 
fervor  of  genius  the  good  taste  of  an  elegant  mind  and 
the  patient  labor  of  a  highly  accomplished  intellect," 
was  in  no  manner  applicable  to  some  of  Dr.  Bird's  coo- 
temporaries  in  fiction  willing.  "He  striding  and 
screeching  of  which  Forrest  was  aconcd  upon  the  stage, 
were  transferred  to  the  printed  page  by  a  number  of 
writers  of  a  school  which  was  founded  by  George  Up- 
pard  and  of  which  he  was  the  leading  expositor.  While 
Forrest  was  an  undoubted  artist  in  his  department,  Lip- 
pard  cannot  be  iiMfjifd  to  any  high  place  in  the  sphere 
in  which  he  gained  so  much  pJTiiiif;  celebrity.  This 
young  petrel  who  swooped,  gyialed  and  oat  his  circles 
over  the  roofs  and  chimney-tops  of  Philadelphia,  saOSa& 
up  the  Wissahickon  and  down  the  Brandy-wine,  now 
scenting  its  romantic  history  and  now  its  foulnesses  and 
vice,  was  as  odd  a  creature  as  is  known  to  the  literary 
annals  of  the  neighborhood.  His  friends,  who  as  faith 
fully  upheld  his  methods  as  he  himself  defended  Ana 
at  every  opportunity  in  the  face  of  his  critics,  compre 
hending  nearly  every  literary  authority  of  the  day  that 
thought  it  worth  his  while  to  waste  a  shaft  on  such  a 
mark,  have  never  made  out  a  strong  enough  case  to 


252  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

cause  us  to  give  him  a  place  anywhere  except  in  the 
gallery  of  our  curiosities.  He  studied  history,  said 
they,  as  a  poet,  like  the  French  poet-historian  Michelet. 
His  imagination  glorified  it.  His  work  was  good,  too, 
because  it  was  patriotically  American.  He  attacked 
vice  and  stripped  it  "  to  its  bare  bones  "  with  a  high 
moral  purpose.  If  pruriency  were  read  into  Lippard, 
he  and  his  defenders  still  protested  entire  purity  and 
honesty  of  motive,  the  manner,  by  the  way,  of  many  a 
better  author.  Nevertheless,  he  wrote  and  published 
with  unexampled  industry  and  wras  read  by  multitudes 
of  people,  who,  if  they  were  mechanics,  laborers,  shop 
girls,  farmers  and  farmers*  wives,  never  having  seen 
a  book  before,  were  parts  of  the  great  body  of  the 
population  to  which  the  printing-press  was  now  making 
its  appeal. 

Lippard  seems  to  have  been  of  Pennsylvania-German 
extraction,  and  was  born  August  10,  1822,  on  a  farm 
in  West  Nantmeal  township,  in  northern  Chester 
County,  whither  his  father,  Daniel  Lippard,  had  lately 
gone  from  Philadelphia  County.  A  wagon  passing 
over  his  body  after  he  had  fallen  on  the  ice,  while  on 
his  way  to  market  \vith  his  produce,  seriously  disabled 
the  head  of  the  family  and  necessitated  its  removal  to 
the  city.  George,  at  an  early  age,  was  taken  to  Ger- 
mantown.  Both  his  parents  died  and  he  was  left  alone 
with  three  sisters  and  two  aunts.  They  were  robbed 
of  the  family  savings  by  a  bank  failure.  The  sisters 
died.  He  married  a  beautiful  young  woman,  Miss 
Rose  Newman,  by  whom  he  had  two  children.  His 
wife  and  children  died  and  were  buried  from  his  home 
at  965  North  Sixth  Street,  before  consumption  came  to 
claim  him  at  the  age  of  thirty-two.  At  this  time  he  was 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  253 

residing  in  a  new  three-story  home  which  he  had  pro 
cured  on  Apple  (now  Lawrence)  Street  above  Jefferson. 
For  this  man  life  was  a  continuous  tragedy  and  his 
work  breathed  it  —  in  maledictions  upon  the  church  for 
its  hypocrisy,  upon  the  rich  for  their  cruelties  to  the 
poor  and  their  immoralities,  and  upon  all  who  enjoyed 
the  world's  favors  and  were  in  authority  under  the  sys 
tem  by  which  our  civilization  is  so  relentlessly  controlled. 
His  parents  had  been  Methodists  and  at  thirteen 
George  Lippard  allied  himself  with  that  denomination 
which  undertook  to  send  him  to  college  and  educate  him 
for  the  ministry.  He  could  not  long  endure  this  re 
straint  and  turned  to  the  law,  as  Charles  Brockden 
Brown,  early  a  subject  of  his  literary  admiration,  had 
done,  but  with  equal  lack  of  success.  He  seems  now  to 
have  been  a  real  starveling  of  the  streets.  He  found  a 
great  abandoned  house  near  Franklin  Square,  containing 
about  100  rooms,  and  this  he  proceeded  to  occupy  by 
squatter's  right,  wandering  by  day  through  the  city  or 
out  to  his  beloved  Wissahickon,  while  at  night  he  slept 
on  one  of  its  barren  floors  with  his  head  pillowed  upon 
his  valise.  Here  his  fancy  recalled  the  Welbeck  house 
of  wonders  in  "  Arthur  Mervyn  "  and  many  a  sugges 
tion  was  furnished  him  for  Monk  Hall,  the  great  house 
of  vice  and  mystery  in  his  own  famous  book,  "  The 
Quaker  City." 

At  length  Lippard  was  commended  to  Colonel  John 
S.  Du  Solle,  a  wild  spirit,  later  the  private  secretary  of 
P.  T.  Barnum.  Du  Solle  published  a  widely  circulated 
Democratic  newspaper  called  "  The  Spirit  of  the 
Times,"  the  motto  of  which  was  u  God  and  the  People." 
Haggard  from  starvation,  his  clothing  in  rags,  which 
were  lashed  together  with  twine,  Lippard  was  engaged 


254  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

as  an  assistant  editor  of  that  journal,  a  place  he  held 
for  about  three  years.  His  fortunes  now  underwent  a 
gradual  improvement.  He  began  his  career  as  a  nov 
elist  with  "  Ladye  Annabel,"  a  tale  founded  upon  the 
chivalric  lore  of  Germany,  with  which  he  had  early 
filled  his  mind.  This  story,  "  stuffed  till  it  cracks  with 
dazzJing  incidents,"  as  a  friendly  critic  remarked,  began 
to  appear  in  a  country  paper  in  1842,  when  Lippard 
was  barely  twenty  years  old.  He  now  turned  his  atten 
tion  to  local  legend,  tradition  and  history,  particularly 
at  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  with  specific  reference  to 
Germantown  and  the  Wissahickon,  "  flowing  for  miles 
through  its  dark  gorge  where  gray  rocks  arise  and  gaunt 
pines  interlock  their  branches  from  opposing  cliffs,"  a 
life-long  source  of  inspiration  to  the  novelist.  His 
first  essay  in  this  field  was  "  Herbert  Tracy,"  a  Revolu 
tionary  story,  and  it  was  followed  by  u  The  Battle  Day 
of  Germantown,"  a  tale  woven  about  the  Chew  House. 

From  local  history  he  turned  rapidly  to  the  vice  he 
beheld  around  him,  the  result  being  "  The  Quaker 
City,"  the  first  installments  of  which  were  issued  in 
1844,  at  once  creating  an  immense  sensation.  It  was 
published  in  pamphlet  form  in  ten  numbers.  The  book 
in  five  years  had  attained  its  twenty-seventh  edition,  no 
one  of  W7hich  was  less  than  1000  copies,  while  some 
reached  4000  copies.  It  was  reprinted  in  London  and 
was  translated  into  German,  still  being  read  in  1876, 
when  T.  B.  Peterson  and  Brothers,  who  published  most 
of  his  mad  tales,  issued  a  complete  edition  of  his  works. 

"  The  Quaker  City  "  was  a  story  of  vices,  horrors 
and  abuses  of  which  Philadelphia  at  the  time  was  sup 
posed  to  be  prolific.  It  is  an  unpleasant  record  of  se 
duction  relieved  by  no  bright  scenes  or  cheerful  emo- 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  255 

tions.  It  is  a  wild  and  headlong  denunciation.  "  This 
is  the  great  city,"  said  Lippard,  after  he  had  arraigned 
it  for  its  sins,  "  which  every  Sunday  lifts  its  demure 
face  to  Heaven  and  with  church  burning,  Girard  Col 
lege  and  bank  robbery  hanging  around  its  skirts,  tells 
Almighty  God  that  it  has  sent  missionaries  to  the  isles 
of  the  sea,  to  the  Hindoo,  the  Turk  and  the  Hottentot; 
that  it  feels  for  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  far-off  nations 
to  an  extent  that  cannot  be  measured  by  words,  while 
it  has  not  one  single  throb  of  pity  for  the  poor  who 
starve,  rot  and  die  within  its  very  eyesight." 

It  was  supposed  that  many  of  the  characters  were 
taken  from  real  life.  For  instance,  Gus  Lorrimer  was 
thought  to  be  a  fashionable  young  libertine  who  had 
lately  been  killed  by  another  Philadelphian  for  seducing 
his  sister;  and  "  the  fat  and  festered  profligacy  in  the 
Senate,  on  the  bench,  in  the  pulpit  and  at  the  bar,"  it  is 
said,  were  deeply  stirred  by  this  recital  of  their  mis 
deeds.  The  author  was  threatened  with  "  pistols,  dag 
gers,  and  libel  suits,"  if  we  believe  his  own  account. 
Certain  it  is  that  when  his  novel  was  ready  to  be  put 
upon  the  stage  at  the  Chestnut  Street  Theatre,  the 
mayor  came  to  him  in  the  crowd  which  awaited  the 
opening  of  the  doors  and  urged  him  to  let  the  announce 
ment  be  made  over  his  name,  as  the  author,  that  the  play 
would  not  be  presented.  Lippard  consented,  in  the 
interest  of  peace  and  order,  at  a  time  when  the  city  was 
suffering  greatly  from  the  outrages  of  incendiary  mobs. 
The  story  was  so  popular  that  he  established  a  magazine 
called  "  The  Quaker  City,"  in  which  many  of  his  wild 
tales  appeared. 

Having  described  the  battle  of  Germantown,  Lippard 
turned  to  the  battle  of  Brandywine.  He  visited  the 


256  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

region  and  strolled  beside  the  stream.  "  A  sinless  vir 
gin,  with  gentle  thoughts  gleaming  from  her  mild  eye, 
soft  memories  flushing  over  her  young  cheek,  grace  in 
her  gestures  and  music  in  her  voice, —  such,"  said  he, 
44  is  the  Brandywine  among  rivers;  such  her  valley 
among  valleys."  The  result  of  this  study  was  his 
"  Blanche  of  Brandywine,  or  September  the  Eleventh, 
1777."  Lippard  had  now  outdone  his  master,  Charles 
Brockden  Brown;  he  had  written  five  novels  in  three 
years,  and  at  least  two  of  them,  "  The  Quaker  City  " 
and  the  Brandywine  story,  were  so  long  that  each  would 
fill  three  or  four  volumes  of  ordinary  proportions. 

The  amount  of  work  involved  in  their  writing  must 
have  been  enormous,  but  his  career  as  a  novelist  had 
scarcely  yet  begun.  He  published  many  legends,  one 
great  volume  in  1847  called  "The  Legends  of  the 
American  Revolution,  or  Washington  and  his  Gen 
erals  " ;  some  legends  of  Mexico,  suggested  by  the 
Mexican  War,  in  which  work  he  became  so  much 
enamoured  of  the  character  of  Zachary  Taylor  that  he 
stumped  the  state  of  Pennsylvania  for  the  General,  who 
was  now  the  Whig  candidate  for  President. 

To  the  Wissahickon,  or  Wissahikon,  as  he  always 
spelled  the  name,  he  often  came  to  dream  in  the  shade 
of  its  trees  and  to  write  as  he  lay  or  sat  upon  the  rocks. 
From  the  time  he  wandered  in  the  glen  with  scarcely  a 
crust  in  his  pocket,  wondering  day  by  day  when  he 
should  die,  until  the  end,  this  stream  seems  to  have  had 
a  prophetic  power  over  him.  Here,  "  where  the  breeze 
mourns  its  anthem  through  the  tall  pines;  where  the 
silver  waters  send  up  their  voices  of  joy;  where  calmness 
and  quiet  and  intense  solitude  awe  the  soul  and  fill  the 
heart  with  bright  thoughts  and  golden  dreams  woven 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  257 

in  the  luxury  of  the  summer  hour,"  Lippard  was  mar 
ried.  It  was  a  moonlight  night  in  May  in  1847  an^ 
there  were  only  rude  Indian  rites;  but  in  this  way  was 
this  romantic  soul  bound  to  the  young  woman  whom  he 
loved  and  who  loved  him.  Much  of  his  lore  of  the 
Wissahickon  was  brought  together  in  a  long  novel  called 
"  Paul  Ardenheim,  the  Monk  of  Wissahikon."  In  this 
book  he  unfolded  "  the  secret  history  of  the  Revolu 
tion."  A  dozen  more  works,  shorter  or  longer,  came 
from  Lippard's  pen  before  his  death,  which  closely  fol 
lowed  his  wife's,  after  he  had  travelled  much  in  the 
north  and  west  in  the  vain  hope  of  forgetting  his  crush 
ing  sorrows  and  of  restoring  his  wasted  frame. 

Lippard's  methods  of  writing  were  somewhat  pecul 
iar.  J.  M.  W.  Geist,  of  Lancaster,  Pa.,  who  had  been 
his  associate  in  the  office  of  the  "  Quaker  City,"  in 
recalling  the  novelist,  said : 

"  George  Lippard  had  no  vices,  unless  excessive 
smoking  is  a  vice,  and  he  and  his  cigar  were  inseparable 
companions,  especially  when  he  was  thinking  out  the 
plot  of  story  or  novel  and  committing  it  to  paper. 
When  his  novels  were  running  through  the  *  Quaker 
City,'  he  would  not  begin  writing  the  weekly  installment 
until  the  morning  of  the  day  before  the  paper  had  to  go 
to  press,  and  when  he  began  he  would  not  rise  until  his 
eight  or  ten  columns  were  finished.  On  those  days  it 
was  my  assignment  to  sit  by  his  side,  receive  the  copy, 
sheet  by  sheet,  prepare  it  in  takes  for  the  compositors 
and  see  to  it  that  his  cigar  did  not  go  out,  as  that  would 
be  sure  to  cause  an  interruption  to  his  train  of  thought 
and  consequent  loss  of  valuable  time.  When  one  cigar 
was  nearly  burnt  out  I  would  replace  it  with  a  freshly 
lighted  one,  and  it  really  seemed  as  if  he  was  uncon- 


258  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

scious  of  what  was  being  done,  so  deeply  was  he  ab 
sorbed  in  his  writing.  His  manuscript  was  so  correct 
that  he  rarely  altered  a  word  in  the  proof;  in  fact,  he 
would  not  look  it  over  unless  pressed  to  do  so." 

His  stories  wrote  themselves  as  he  went  along. 
Once,  at  the  end  of  an  installment,  he  left  a  boy  dang 
ling  from  a  frail  strip  of  lattice  work.  The  situation 
was  too  tense  for  Mr.  Geist,  and  he  asked:  "  George, 
what  are  you  going  to  do  with  that  boy  you  left  hanging 
to  the  grape  vine?  "  l<  I  cannot  tell  until  next  week," 
said  Lippard.  He  would  not  know  until  he  sat  down 
with  his  cigar  to  continue  his  story.* 

Not  in  fiction  alone  did  he  denounce  the  institutions 
of  society.  As  a  citizen  he  contended  steadily,  if  rather 
aimlessly,  for  the  same  objects.  He  attacked  the  fac 
tory  system  and  the  "  monopoly  "  of  land  and  money, 
being  virtually  a  communist,  as  he  was  a  spiritualist  and 
a  general  enthusiast  for  most  of  the  isms  of  his  time. 
Shortly  before  his  death,  he  organized  a  secret  society 
called  the  "  Brotherhood  of  the  Union,"  of  which  he 
was  the  "  Supreme  Washington,"  or  President.  This 
society  had  for  its  purpose  the  amelioration  of  the 
wrongs  of  mankind.  "  It  seeks,"  said  he,  "  to  destroy 
those  social  evils  which  produce  poverty,  intemperance 
and  crime.  It  seeks  to  inculcate  correct  views  of  the  re 
lations  of  capital  and  labor,  so  that  the  capitalist  may 
no  longer  be  the  tyrant  nor  the  laborer  the  victim,  but 
both  sharers  of  the  produce  of  work  on  the  platform  of 
right  and  justice."  The  "  Supreme  Circle "  of  the 
Brotherhood  held  its  first  convocation  in  Independence 


*  Anniversary  Committee's  publications  on  the  occasion  of  the 
fiftieth  annual  session  of  the  Supreme  Circle  of  the  Brotherhood 
of  the  Union. 


k 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  259 

Hall  in  1850  and  its  interests  pleasantly  occupied  Lip- 
pard's  closing  years.  He  established  branches  in  twen 
ty-three  states  of  the  Union,  and  it  is  still  a  vigorous 
organization,  celebrating  its  fiftieth  anniversary  in  Phil 
adelphia  in  1900.  The  Society  regularly  commemo 
rates  Lippard's  birthday  and  decorates  his  grave,  over 
which  it  has  erected  a  suitable  monument. 

Many  of  his  name  had  been  laid  away  in  a  neglected 
little  plot  in  Germantown,  of  which  he  wrote :  "  You 
may  talk  to  me  of  your  fashionable  graveyards  where 
death  is  made  to  look  pretty,  and  silly  and  fanciful,  but 
for  me  this  one  old  graveyard  with  its  rank  grass  and 
crowded  tombstones  has  more  of  God  and  Immortality 
in  it  than  all  your  elegant  cemeteries  together.  I  love 
its  soil;  its  stray  wild  flowers  are  omens  to  me  of  a 
pleasant  sleep  taken  by  weary  ones  who  were  faint  with 
living  too  long.  It  is  to  me  a  holy  thought  that  here 
my  bones  will  one  day  repose." 

They,  however,  were  not  taken  there  when  he  died  in 
1854,  but  to  the  Odd  Fellows'  Cemetery  on  Twenty- 
third  Street,  between  Diamond  and  Norris  Streets, 
whither  the  corpse  was  followed  by  a  considerable  caval 
cade  of  delegations  from  his  own  and  other  secret 
societies.  His  monument  is  the  work  which  he  crowded 
into  his  few  years.  Lippard  once  said  that  his  "  great 
est  fault  "  had  ever  been  that  he  could  not  mould  him 
self  "  to  the  humors  of  a  tinselled  aristocracy  nor 
worship  empty  pomps  and  emptier  skulls  though  garn 
ished  with  big  names  and  hired  praise."  He  was  wont 
to  complain,  too,  that  men  attacked  him  because  he 
wore  his  hair  in  long  shaggy  locks  and  dressed  in  a 
blue  coat  with  a  scalloped  velvet  collar  buttoned  tight 
at  the  waist,  in  total  disregard  of  changing  fashions. 


260  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

Needless  to  say,  these  are  not  the  reasons  why  Lippard 
is  barred  from  association  with  great  names. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  he  had  much  imagery,  but 
of  the  refinements  of  literature  he  lacked  understanding 
and  appreciation.  For  art  he  endeavored  to  substitute 
social  reform,  which  meant  the  uncovering  of  vice  until 
it  stood  naked  before  you,  and  a  blatant  Americanism. 
"  Our  idea  of  a  national  literature,"  said  he,  "  is  simply 
that  a  literature  which  does  not  work  practically  for  the 
advancement  of  social  reform,  or  which  is  too  dignified 
or  too  good  to  picture  the  wrongs  of  the  great  mass  of 
humanity  is  just  good  for  nothing  at  all.  *  English 
novels  '  do  more  to  corrupt  the  minds  of  American 
children  than  any  sort  of  bad  literature  that  ever  cursed 
the  world.  They  are  filled  with  attacks  upon  American 
freedom.  They  sneer  at  what  they  do  not  comprehend 
in  our  government  and  grossly  misstate  facts  where  their 
comprehension  is  clear.  Published  by  greedy  pirates  in 
New  York  who  will  not  pay  a  decent  price  for  a  book 
even  from  the  pen  of  a  Cooper  or  an  Irving,  these  books 
are  scattered  broadcast  over  the  land.  .  .  .  Written 
very  often  by  authors  who  believe  in  that  most  terrible 
of  '  Infernal  Machines,'  the  Established  Church  of 
England;  who  believe  that  Britain  is  right  in  starving 
300,000  Irishmen  to  death  per  year;  who,  in  fact,  cling 
to  the  whole  list  of  British  absurdities  from  absurdity 
A  No.  i  of  supporting  a  female  Pope  called  a  queen  at 
the  expense  of  the  misery  of  a  whole  people  to  Z  No. 
99,  of  pouring  all  the  life  and  blood  of  a  people  into 
that  great  funnel  of  degradation  called  the  *  Factory 
System,'  these  '  English  novels  '  are  the  very  worst  class 
of  books  to  put  into  the  hands  of  an  American  boy  or 
girl." 


LITERARY  DEMOCRACY  261 

Lippard  daubed  all  his  canvases  red.  He  did  not 
know  the  value  of  soft  colors,  and  the  sense  of  men  of 
a  finer  organization  is  palled  by  his  narrative,  which 
will  be  dismissed  as  a  confusion  of  horrors  expressed  by 
a  writer  who  is  working  at  too  high  a  mental  pitch, 
tense  with  morbid  incident  detailed  with  windy  ad 
jectives.  His  heart,  it  was  said  by  one  of  his  friends 
and  imitators,  of  whom  he  had  so  many,  was  "  a  furnace 
of  fire-thoughts  seething  and  simmering  with  emotions 
for  which  he  could  find  no  utterance."  Any  but  an 
untrained  reader  soon  tires  of  sentences  like  these: 

"  The  uplifted  torch  flung  its  column  of  blood-red 
flame  and  lurid  smoke  far  along  the  darkness  of  that 
ancient  chamber." 

"  In  that  blood-red  light  his  countenance  stood  out 
from  the  surrounding  gloom  like  an  image  of  bronze 
bathed  in  crimson." 

"  Along  the  calm  waters  marched  a  long  and  wind 
ing  column  of  the  dead,  gliding  over  the  bosom  of  the 
river,  their  stiffened  feet  but  touching  the  smooth  sur 
face  while  their  solemn  faces  were  upraised  to  the  sky 
and  their  white  shrouds  fell  in  drooping  folds  around 
their  awful  forms." 

Houses  that  are  filled  with  trap-doors  through  which 
men  are  plunged  to  underground  pits,  black  slaves  who 
do  murder,  and  Oriental  voluptuousness,  improbability, 
mystery  and  passion  reproduced  in  Philadelphia  give  us 
no  name  for  the  world  to  venerate.  Brown,  whatever 
his  faults,  held  a  rein  upon  his  imagination  and  told  his 
tales  in  direct  language  unencumbered  by  tawdry  orna 
ments.  The  answer  to  Lippard  as  an  artist  is  the  read 
ing  of  his  works  by  those  who  have  proper  standards  of 
literary  taste.  As  a  social  reformer  his  answer  is  found 


262  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

in  the  realization  that  no  good  moral  object  was  ever 
effected  by  his  tales  of  seduction  and  revenge  which  were 
read  by  the  multitude  only  for  their  libidinous  descrip 
tions;  as  a  writer  who  strove  to  encourage  patriotism  by 
preserving  legendary  material  and  describing  national 
events  in  the  guise  of  fiction,  in  the  knowledge  that  to 
this  day  the  historian  labors  to  correct  some  of  the  false 
impressions  which  he  disseminated  among  the  American 
people. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP 

The  most  famous  and  the  most  truly  national  literary 
periodical  after  the  "  Port  Folio "  was  "  Graham's 
Magazine."  It  also  made  its  home  in  Philadelphia. 
George  Rex  Graham  (1813-1894)  was  the  son  of  a 
shipping  merchant  who  lost  his  fortune  in  one  of  the 
panics  which  swept  the  country  periodically  early  in  the 
century.  He  was  named  for  his  maternal  uncle,  George 
Rex,  a  prosperous  farmer  in  Montgomery  County,  with 
whom  he  was  placed  as  a  lad  and  remained  until  he  was 
nineteen  years  of  age,  when  he  came  to  the  city  to  learn 
the  cabinet-maker's  trade.  Designed  for  the  bar  before 
his  father  was  overtaken  by  disaster,  he  still  cherished 
the  ambition  to  become  a  lawyer.  Faithfully  sawing, 
planing  and  joining  at  his  bench  day  after  day,  he 
utilized  his  early  morning  and  evening  hours  for  study 
which  would  fit  him  for  the  profession.  He  very  early 
began  to  evince  a  love  for  general  literature,  wrote  for 
various  periodicals  and  by  the  time  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1839,  had  an  editorial  position  on  the 
"  Saturday  Evening  Post."  Graham  soon  acquired  a 
proprietary  interest  in  that  paper;  in  Atkinson's  "  Cas 
ket,"  which  was  merged  with  Burton's  "  Gentleman's 
Magazine  "  to  become  "  Graham's  Magazine  ";  in  the 
"  North  American,"  and  other  publications,  being  like 
Godey,  Morton  McMichael,  Charles  J.  Peterson  and 
others  of  their  day,  an  active  speculator  in  magazine  and 

263 


264  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

newspaper  properties.  He  was  often  associated  with 
these  men  and  others  in  enterprises  which  for  the  day 
were  of  a  daring  character  and  at  length  led  to  his 
complete  undoing. 

The  establishment  which  was  peculiarly  his  own  was 
the  magazine  that  bore  his  name  for  nearly  twenty  years. 
Upon  it  he  expended  money  with  a  lavish  hand;  from  it 
he  derived  profits  which  if  they  had  been  husbanded 
would  have  made  him  through  life,  as  he  was  for  a 
number  of  years,  a  very  wealthy  man.  No  one,  not 
even  Godey,  whose  avowed  purpose  was  to  produce  a 
woman's  magazine,  so  that  the  two  great  periodical 
publishers,  if  contemporaneous,  were  not  in  antagonism, 
had  ever  in  America  attempted  magazine-making  on 
such  a  scale.  Like  Godey,  Graham  had  exact  psycho 
logical  knowledge  of  his  people,  and  he  went  to  them, 
month  after  month,  with  the  best  that  could  be  garnered 
of  the  kind  of  reading  which  they  cordially  enjoyed. 
Ready  to  devote  but  little  of  its  space  to  "  the  Julianas 
and  Florellas  of  Feebledom,"  who  were  in  the  ascendant 
in  the  lady  books,  "  Graham's  "  was  still  in  no  way 
aimed  over  the  heads  of  the  populace.  It  was  not  the 
editor's  intention  to  produce  a  periodical  which  was 
superior  to  the  great  body  of  the  people,  as  Dennie  did 
with  unvarying  pride.  He  sought  to  find  a  mean  be 
tween  the  uninteresting  and  severe  literature  that  only 
Tories  read  and  the  namby-pambyism  which  was  the 
ruling  note  of  the  age.  He  sought,  too,  and  for  this 
history  honors  him,  to  build  up  a  native  literature  by 
purchasing  at  adequate  prices  the  work  of  the  best 
American  writers,  achieving  a  deserved  success  in  com 
petition  with  piratical  publishers  who,  at  practically  no 
cost  to  themselves,  made  periodicals  by  running  their 


0 


? 


TV 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  265 

drag-nets  through  the  pages  of  European  books  and 
magazines. 

"  Graham's,"  although  the  product  of  a  marriage  of 
Atkinson's  "  Casket "  and  the  "  Gentleman's  Maga 
zine,"  was  properly  a  descendant  of  the  last  of  these. 
This  parent,  at  any  rate,  is  the  one  most  worth  owning. 
In  1837,  William  E.  Burton,  the  comedian,  had  begun 
to  publish  a  magazine  which  was  named  for  the  famous 
English  periodical.  If  ladies  were  to  have  magazines 
and  papers  of  their  own,  it  was  but  just  that  gentlemen 
should  receive  consideration  also,  and  in  the  new  literary 
movement  Mr.  Burton,  connected  for  some  time  with 
the  city  theatres,  determined  that  his  sex  should  have 
its  rightful  dues.  It  was  his  intention,  he  said,  to  pro 
duce  a  book  which  would  be  worthy  of  a  place  "  upon 
the  parlor  table  of  every  gentleman  in  the  United 
States,"  and  it  must  be  said  that  he  succeeded  very  well. 
He  largely  relied  upon  Philadelphia  writers,  who  were 
then  a  goodly  company  and,  if  of  no  world-wide  renown, 
had  sufficient  industry  and  capacity  under  intelligent 
direction  to  produce  an  interesting  magazine. 

Edgar  Allan  Poe  was  soon  brought  on  by  Mr.  Burton 
to  join  the  literary  colony  of  the  city,  and  beginning  with 
July,  1839,  was  active  as  its  assistant  editor.  John 
Sartain,  the  young  English  engraver  who  had  come  to 
Philadelphia  in  1830,  upon  the  advice  of  Thomas 
Sully,  the  painter,  was  employed  to  make  some  of 
his  beautiful  mezzotints  for  the  "  Gentleman's,"  and 
it  was  a  likely  candidate  for  popularity  when  Mr.  Bur 
ton,  desiring  to  have  a  theatre  of  his  own,  and  requiring 
all  his  energies  and  capital  for  that  use,  sold  his  periodi 
cal  late  in  1840  to  George  R.  Graham.  It  now  became 
(to  give  it  all  its  copious  titles)  "  Graham's  Lady's  and 


266  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Gentleman's  Magazine  (The  Casket  and  Gentleman's 
United),  embracing  every  department  of  literature;  em 
bellished  with  engravings,  fashions  and  music  arranged 
for  the  piano  forte,  harp  and  guitar."  Some  of  this 
persiflage  was  later  eliminated,  but  whatever  its  official 
name,  to  the  public  which  loved  it,  it  was  always  "  Gra 
ham's."  The  new  owner  took  over  most  of  Burton's 
writers,  including  Poe,  who  for  eighteen  months  con 
tinued  to  hold  an  editorial  position  at  $800  a  year,  and 
at  once  put  forth  strenuous  and  successful  efforts  to 
secure  the  services  of  the  New  York  and  New  England 
writers  who  had  come  forward  in  such  numbers  to 
eclipse  Philadelphia's  literary  luminaries. 

The  higher  literary  criticism,  so  ably  represented  in 
the  city  by  Robert  Walsh  and  his  group  of  writers  in 
the  "  American  Quarterly  Review,"  had  acknowledged 
the  growing  supremacy  of  other  centres  only  slowly  and 
grudgingly.  They  contended  for  a  while  that  Brockden 
Brown  was  a  better  novelist  than  Cooper,  and,  like  Dr. 
James  McHenry,  were  violent  in  their  charges  upon  the 
"  Lakers,"  the  name  they  bestowed  upon  Percival,  Willis 
and  Bryant.  They  did  but  imitate  Wordsworth, 
Southey,  Coleridge,  Shelley  and  Keats,  the  Lake  poets 
of  England,  said  the  "  Review."  In  Dennie's  group  in 
Philadelphia  the  standard  of  value  in  poetry  was  Pope, 
just  as  they  followed  Addison  as  their  master  in  prose. 
Willis  was  held  particularly  blameworthy  for  introduc 
ing  the  "  repulsive  "  Lake  style  into  this  country.  When 
he  was  selected  as  the  poet  for  an  important  public  occa 
sion,  the  Philadelphia  "  Quarterly  "  remarked: 

"  Could  they  not  have  found  a  better  poet  in  New 
England  ?  By  the  bye,  we  fear  not.  Poetry  is  not  the 
pursuit  in  which  the  truly  enlightened  inhabitants  of  that 


BURTON'S 


GENTLEMAN'S  MAGAZINE, 


MONTHLY  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 


EDITED  BY  WILLIAM  E.  BUHTO1T, 

*» 
EDGAR  A.    FOB. 


By  .  g*ml«man,  w.  mean  not  to  drew  a  HIM  tiat  would  be  InTkUom  between  hlfh  and  tow,  raiit  »n<J 
•ubordlnatSon,  riobM  tod  poverty.  No.  77U  dMmctMM  u  in  IA«  mM.  WhotTCr  U  open,  jun  and  [run; 
vhorrer  I*  of  a  humino  and  aflabls  demeanor ;  whoever  U  hoDounbla  in  hinuieir,  and  In  hit  ju.l«m,;ai  of 
Obert,  and  requires  no  law  but  hig  word  to  make  him  fulfil  an  engag«nMntr-nch  a  man  ii  a  gtntlmai*?- 
*nd  nth  »  man  maj  be  found  among  the  tiller*  of  UM  earth  M  well  a*  in  Uu  drawing  room*  of  toe  high-bora 
and  lie  rich,  Ox.  Yum, 


VOLUME  Vt 
FROK  JANUARY   TO   JULY. 


PHILADELPHIA  j 

WILLIAM   E.   BURTON, 

OPFOSITB   ran    EXCHANGE,    DOCK    STREET. 


A.  TITLE  PAGE  FROM  THE  "  GENTLEMAN'S  MAGAZINE  "  WHILE  POE 
WAS  AN  EDITOR 


268  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

section  of  our  country  seem  to  excel.  Theirs  is  the 
land  of  practical  sound  sense,  industry,  enterprise,  acute- 
ness,  and  persevering  research,  rather  than  of  keen  feel 
ing  or  glowing  and  active  imagination.  If  our  brethren 
east  of  the  Hudson  are  not  content  with  this  praise,  we 
cannot  help  it.  Justice  will  not  permit  us  to  accord  to 
them  in  addition  that  of  poetical  excellence." 

In  a  very  short  time  after  this  judgment  was  pro 
nounced,  Philadelphia  was  disillusioned,  first  by  Bryant 
and  then  by  Longfellow  and  Lowell,  to  mention  no 
other  of  New  England's  claimants  for  poetical  honors. 
In  verse,  barring  Henry  B.  Hirst,  a  quite  remarkable 
poet,  the  Quaker  City  could  offer  few  better  writers  than 
Robert  T.  Conrad,  Willis  Gaylord  Clark  and  Robert 
Morris,  whom  after  Clark's  death  Poe  declared  to  be 
"  the  best  of  the  Philadelphia  poets."  In  prose,  as 
against  Hawthorne  and  the  Knickerbockers,  the  city 
afforded  Dr.  Bird,  upon  whose  work  its  claims  must 
principally  if  not  solely  depend.  Bayard  Taylor, 
Thomas  Buchanan  Read,  George  H.  Boker  and  Charles 
Godfrey  Leland  were  coming  forward;  but  they  were 
all  younger  men  with  their  reputations  still  unmade,  and 
their  weight  was  put  into  the  balance  on  Pennsylvania's 
side,  only  at  a  somewhat  later  period. 

Graham  took  what  he  found  in  Philadelphia  and 
made  it  go  as  far  as  it  would,  with  articles  and  poems 
from  Judge  Conrad,  Henry  B.  Hirst,  Richard  Penn 
Smith,  Joseph  C.  Neal,  Mrs.  Neal,  Thomas  Dunn 
English,  Dr.  Reynell  Coates,  Dr.  John  K.  Mitchell,*  a 

*The  father  of  Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell.  "The  Song  of  the  Prairie," 
a  refrain  in  his  long  poem,  "  Indecision,"  was  at  one  time  very 
popular: 

"  Oh  fly  to  the  prairie,  sweet  maiden,  with  me. 
Tis  as  green  and  as  wild  and  as  wide  as  the  sea." 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  269 

Virginian,  who  studied  under  Dr.  Chapman  and  settled 
in  Philadelphia,  publishing  a  volume  called  "  Indecision 
and  Other  Poems";  Morton  McMichael,  Charles  J. 
Peterson,  John  Frost,  professor  of  literature  in  the 
Philadelphia  High  School,  and  the  industrious  compiler 
of  many  histories  and  biographies;  Catharine  H.  Water 
man,  the  poetess,  afterward  Mrs.  Esling;  Fanny  Kemble 
Butler,  Robert  Morris,  Joseph  R.  Chandler,  a  Massa 
chusetts  man  of  many  fine  qualities,  for  twenty-five  years 
editor  of  the  "  United  States  Gazette  "  before  it  was 
combined  with  the  "North  American"  in  1847,  and 
afterward  a  member  of  Congress  from  Philadelphia, — 
all  men  and  women  of  liberal  intellectual  interests  like 
those  who  revolved  about  Joseph  Dennie  in  his  day  and 
generation. 

But  these  were  not  enough ;  Graham  disregarded  geo 
graphical  boundaries  and  sought  his  writers  wherever  he 
could  find  them.  Not  many  could  withstand  the  allure 
ments  of  his  invitation  to  send  him  their  manuscripts. 
Longfellow  contributed  constantly.  There  are  enough 
of  his  poems  in  Graham's  bound  files  to  fill  a  goodly 
volume.  The  collection  would  include  "  The  Spanish 
Student,"  "  The  Belfry  of  Bruges,"  "  The  Arsenal  at 
Springfield,"  "Nuremberg,"  and  "  The  Builders." 
Lowell  also  wrote  for  the  magazine  frequently,  coming 
on  with  his  young  wife  to  reside  for  a  time  in  Philadel 
phia,  so  that  he  might  be  in  close  attendance  at  the 
nation's  literary  market-place.  Bryant,  N.  P.  Willis, 
Richard  H.  Dana,  R.  H.  Stoddard,  Park  Benjamin, 
George  P.  Morris,  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  Christopher 
P.  Cranch,  and  later  John  G.  Saxe,  E.  P.  Whipple, 
George  D.  Prentice  and  Alice  and  Phoebe  Cary,  were 
upon  Mr.  Graham's  list  of  poets. 


270  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

In  prose  he  had  James  Fenimore  Cooper,  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne,  James  K.  Paulding,  Washington  Allston, 
the  painter;  Mayne  Reid,  "  Ik  Marvel,"  W.  W.  Story, 
Charles  Fenno  Hoffman,  and  all  the  principal  writers 
of  the  day  except  Washington  Irving,  who  was  too 
busily  occupied  with  the  "  Knickerbocker  Magazine  " 
to  divide  his  favors  with  others.  From  the  South  came 
many  poems  and  stories  from  William  Gilmore  Simms. 
The  better-class  female  magazine  writers,  such  as  Mrs. 
Ann  S.  Stephens,  Frances  Sargent  Osgood,  Mrs.  Seba 
Smith,  Miss  Sedgwick,  Mrs.  Sigourney,  Mrs.  Embury, 
"  Grace  Greenwood  "  and  Mrs.  Ellet,  sent  their  stories, 
poems  and  sketches  for  the  enjoyment  of  those  of  Gra 
ham's  readers  for  whom  Lowell,  Poe  and  Bryant  were 
too  trying  an  intellectual  exercise.  Even  T.  S.  Arthur's 
name  was  occasionally  seen  on  Graham's  list  of  contribu 
tors,  although  Poe  said  of  him  that  he  was  u  uneducated 
and  too  fond  of  mere  vulgarities  to  please  a  refined 


taste." 


Horace  Greeley  wrote  upon  fishing,  while  Francis 
P.  Blair,  John  W.  Forney  and  men  of  eminence  in 
political  spheres,  sent  occasional  papers  to  Graham,  the 
dean  of  magazine  publishers  in  America. 

"  My  name  has  figured,  I  assure  you,  on  the  covers  of 
Graham  and  Godey,  making  as  respectable  an  appear 
ance  for  aught  I  could  see  as  any  of  the  canonized  bead- 
roll  with  which  it  was  associated,"  says  one  of  Haw 
thorne's  characters  in  "  The  House  of  Seven  Gables," 
and  to  read  over  the  list  of  writers  for  "  Graham's" 
before  1850,  is  practically  to  call  off  the  names  of  all  the 
leading  American  writers  of  that  generation.  And  they 
contributed  to  its  pages  not  once  but  many  times. 

The  magazine  on  its  art  side  was  not  less  well  sup- 


GKAHAM'S  MAGAZINE 


OF  IITERATTJEE  AM)  AET. 


GEOBGE  R  GRAHAM  AND  BUFD8  W.  GED5WOLD,  EDITORS. 


principal  (Eontribntors : 


WASHINGTON  ALLSTON;XR.A. 

WILLIAM  C.  BRYANT,  ?«Q. 

WILLIAM  H.  BURLEIGH,  E«i 

J.  FEN  I  MORE  COOPER,  E*Q. 

REVNELL  COATE3,  M.  D. 

R«r.  WALTER  COLTON,  U.  S.  N. 

How.  ROBERT  T.  CONRAD, 

GEORGE  H.  COLTON,  ESQ. 

RICHARD  H.  DANA,  Exj. 

THEODORE  »  FAY,  EM). 

T.  C.  GRATTAN,  E.Q. 

CHARLES  FE?«.VO  HOFFMAN,  EM) 

HT.NKY  \YILLIAM  HERBERT. E«O. 

GKORGF.  HILL,  EM> 

W  A.  JO.VES,  ESQ. 

HKNRY  W   LONGTELLOW  EJQ. 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL,  E*a 

CORNELJU3  MATHEWS,  EKJ, 


ROBERT  MORRIS,  EM). 
JOHN  H.  MANCUR,  E«j. 

HO*.  JAMES  K,  PAULDINO, 

EDGAR  A.  POE,  ESQ. 

ALFRED  B.  STREET,  EKJ. 

W  W  STORY,  ESQ. 

HENRY  H.  TUCKERMAN,  ESQ. 

Bo*.  RICHARD  HENRY  WUJ)E. 

N.  P  WILLIS,  E*Q. 

H.  HASTINGS  WELD,  E*j. 

MRS   A.  M.  F.  ANNAN, 

MRS.  ••  MARY  CLAVERS," 

MRS.  EMMA  C.  EMBUEY, 

MRS.  E.  F    ELLET, 

MRS.  FRANCIS  8.  O3GOOD, 

«  MARIA  DEL  OCCIDENTS," 

MRS.  LYDIA  B.  81GOURNEY, 

MRS.  ANN  a 


WITH  P07MEROUS  OLCTSTRATION3  BY  THE  MOST  EMINENT  AETISTa 


VOLUKE  XXII. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
GEORGE  R.  GRAHAM,  NO.  98  CHESNITT  STREET. 

isii 


TITLE  PAGE  OF  "  GRAHAM'S  "  WHEN  THE  MAGAZINE  WAS  AT  THE 
HEIGHT  OF  ITS  GLORY 


272  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

plied  with  good  work  by  first-rate  hands.  While  a 
colored  fashion-plate  was  usually  introduced  to  suggest 
a  rivalry  with  Mr.  Godey,  resort  was  had  principally  to 
mezzotint  and  steel  engravings.  Here  are  to  be  found 
many  handsome  plates  by  John  Sartain  in  which  every 
line  of  character  in  the  human  face,  the  sheen  of  silk 
and  brocade,  the  glossy  coats  of  horses  and  dogs  are 
reproduced  with  his  delightful  realism.  Sadd,  Tucker, 
Dick,  Smillie,  Rawdon,  Wright  and  Hatch  and  the 
best  engravers  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  were 
employed  to  embellish  "  Graham's,"  with  results  that 
are  not  to  be  dismissed  with  a  superior  air,  even  when 
we  contrast  the  plates  with  the  showier  illustrations 
made  by  newer  processes  to  adorn  our  periodicals  at 
this  day. 

To  receive  the  magazine  was  a  delightful  experience; 
a  happy  anticipation  before  the  numbers  arrived,  fol 
lowed  by  as  much  surprise  as  we  feel  today  in  turning 
over  the  pages  of  the  bound  volumes  there  to  find  work 
which  has  since  become  a  part  of  the  warp  and  woof  of 
American  literature. 

The  result  was  effected  by  two  agennes, —  intelligent' 
editorial  direction  and  the  lavish  use  of  money.  Mr. 
Graham  was  always  his  own  editor,  although  he  at 
different  times  had  many  distinguished  associates.  He 
had  inherited  Poe  from  Burton  and  would  have  kept 
him  longer  but  for  his  quarrel  with  Charles  J.  Peterson, 
also  an  associate  editor,  as  one  informant  tells  us,  or 
with  Rufus  W.  Griswold,  who  took  Poe's  desk  during 
a  temporary  absence,  according  to  another  version  of 
the  affair.  At  that  time  between  Graham  and  Poe  there 
seems  to  have  been  no  unfriendly  feeling,  and  the  sever 
ance  of  the  interesting  relation  was  very  unfortunate  for 


FRONTISPIECE 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  273 

Poe  and  of  no  advantage  to  his  employer,  who  con 
tinued,  however,  to  purchase  the  effusions  of  the  young 
genius,  now  a  kind  of  derelict  on  the  face  of  the  literary 
waters.  "  The  connection  of  E.  A.  Poe,  Esq.,  with  this 
work,"  Graham  announced  in  his  magazine  in  1842, 
"  ceased  with  the  May  number.  Mr.  Poe  bears  with 
him  our  warmest  wishes  for  success  in  whatever  he  may 
undertake." 

Griswold,  who  followed  Poe,  was  a  strange  admixture 
of  human  opposites,  blending,  as  he  did,  wide  learning 
with  deep-laid  prejudices,  and  he  remained  for  no  long 
time,  withdrawing  in  October,  1843.  ^n  X848  Graham 
was  assisted  in  his  editorial  labors  for  a  few  months  by 
Judge  Conrad,  and  later  his  associates  were  Joseph  R. 
Chandler  and  Bayard  Taylor,  now  writing  constantly  as 
J.  B.  or  J.  Bayard  Taylor.  - 

Through  his  literary  assistants,  Graham  interested  a 
growing  number  of  writers  in  the  magazine,  but  the 
principal  influence  in  inducing  them  to  contribute  to  its 
pages  was  the  promise  of  what  were  for  that  day  hand 
some  pecuniary  rewards.  He  could  early  boast  of  more 
than  one  writer  whom  he  had  been  able  "  to  tempt  from 
their  retreats  "  and  who  could  not  be  induced,  he  said, 
"  to  contribute  to  any  cotemporary."  Poe  was  ill-paid, 
like  all  venders  whose  necessities  compel  them  to  seek 
a  market  for  their  wares.  He  had  much  to  sell  and  his 
needs  were  commonly  known,  while  the  admirers  of 
what  was  genuinely  good  were  far  from  numerous,  in 
the  state  of  appreciation  of  letters  in  the  America  of 
that  time.  Mr.  Graham  paid  him  only  four  dollars  a 
page  for  his  critical  articles  and  not  much  more  for  his 
tales.  Longfellow  seems  to  have  received  about  fifty 
dollars  for  each  of  his  minor  poems,  and  George 


274  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

P.  Morris  could  get  that  sum  for  anything  which  he 
would  offer  before  he  had  yet  put  his  pen  to  paper,  so 
popular  were  his  songs.  The  highest  prices  were  paid 
to  those  whom  Graham  persuaded  against  their  own 
desires,  particularly  Cooper  and  Hawthorne.  No  one 
received  so  much  as  Cooper,  said  the  editor  in  recalling 
the  halcyon  days  of  his  magazine.  To  him  $1800  were 
paid  for  "  The  Islets  of  the  Gulf,  or  Rose  Budd," 
which  was  published  serially,  to  be  reprinted  as  a  book 
under  the  name  of  u  Jack  Tier,  or  the  Florida  Reefs  "; 
and  $1000  were  given  the  same  writer  for  a  series  of 
biographies  of  distinguished  naval  commanders. 

Graham  went  to  England  for  few  of  his  authors,  but 
once  he  bought  a  short  novel  from  G.  P.  R.  James,  "  A 
Life  of  Vicissitudes/'  for  which  he  paid  $1200;  and 
obtained  several  poems  at  some  cost  from  Mrs.  Brown 
ing  when  she  was  still  Elizabeth  B.  Barrett,  "  the  truest 
female  poet  who  has  written  in  the  English  language," 
said  Graham  as  he  set  her  work  before  the  people  beside 
the  verse  of  Longfellow,  our  American  master  of 
melody. 

Many  a  number,  said  Graham,  in  harking  back  to  his 
prosperity,  cost  him  $1500  for  "authorship"  alone, 
and  for  years  the  lowest  monthly  outlay  for  this  item  was 
$800.  In  1852  the  editor  boasted  that  in  the  ten  years 
past  he  had  paid  to  American  writers  between  $80,000 
and  $90,000,  and  offered  to  support  his  statement  with 
the  vouchers  of  the  transactions.  The  engravings  were 
even  more  expensive.  A  number  often  represented  an 
outlay  of  $2000  for  decorations.  An  artist  received 
from  $100  to  $200  for  a  plate  while  the  paper  and  re 
production  brought  up  the  cost  of  each  engraving  to 
about  $500. 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  275 

Graham,  as  we  have  said,  strove  to  produce  a  maga 
zine  of  some  literary  excellence,  but  he  was  not  too  good 
an  angel  for  his  business,  or  his  time.  His  engravings 
were  of  brides,  coquettes,  happy  maids,  pensive  maids, 
honest  swains,  and  of  scenes  meant  to  promote  marriage 
and  glorify  peaceful,  domestic  life.  In  some  issues  he 
gave  portraits  of  his  contributors  and  reproduced  pretty 
landscapes,  while  a  piece  of  music  for  the  cottage  melo- 
deon  and  a  fashion-plate  for  the  girl  or  the  matron  in. 
the  country  who  wished  to  follow  —  if  at  a  deliberate 
distance  —  the  Paris  modes,  were  evidences  of  a  human 
feeling  in  the  editor's  breast.  Graham  passed  through 
the  time  when  — 

"  Bloomer  costumes  rule  the  day; 
Ladies  wear  the  new  apparel ; 
Corsets  now  are  thrown  away, 
Hourglass  changes  to  a  barrel," 

and  the  hoopskirt  craze,  of  which  Leland  wrote  in  this 
strain  — 

"  He  wralked  the  lady  round  and  round, 

She  seemed  intrenched  upon  a  mound, 

Securely  spanned  and  fortified, 

As  if  all  lovers  she  defied. 

You'd  say  if  you  that  hoop  should  see 

A  war-hoop  it  was  meant  to  be." 

But  Graham's  purpose  was  serious  and  his  service 
truly  literary.  He  was  no  mean  writer  himself  and  he 
made  some  boasts  and  occasionally  betrayed  confidences 
in  a  department  at  the  back  of  his  book  called  "  Gra 
ham's  Small  Talk,  held  in  his  idle  moments  with  his 
readers,  correspondents  and  exchanges."  Early  in  the 
history  of  the  magazine  he  wrote:  "  As  we  have  intro- 


276  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

duced  a  new  era  into  magazine  history,  we  shall  not 
pause  until  the  revolution  is  complete.  We  shall  not 
follow  the  namby-pamby  style  of  periodical  literature 
but  aim  at  a  loftier  and  more  extended  flight."  He  be 
lieved  that  magazine  literature  would  become  better  as  it 
was  "  purged  from  the  sickly  sentimentality  which  de 
grades  public  taste,"  and  this  hour  was  at  hand,  he 
said,  when  "  the  first  minds  in  the  nation  "  were  de 
voting  "  solid  thought  to  adorn  and  elevate  it,"  as 
through  "  Blackwood's  "  and  "  Frazer's  "  in  England 
and  the  "  Knickerbocker "  and  "  Graham's  "  in  the 
United  States. 

He  had  begun  in  December,  1840,  with  the  combined 
lists  of  "  Burton's  "  and  the  "  Casket,"  which  called  for 
an  issue  of  not  more  than  5500  copies.  At  the  end 
of  the  first  year,  the  circulation  had  risen  to  25,000 
copies  and  it  seems  to  have  stood  at  about  40,000  until, 
by  speculation  in  copper  mines  and  other  business  out 
side  his  proper  sphere,  the  editor  was  obliged  to  sell  his 
magazine. 

He  had  addressed  his  subscribers  in  much  confidence 
in  January,  1845  :  "  We  must  confess  that  it  is  with  no 
little  pride  we  issue  the  present  number.  The  engrav 
ings  which  adorn  it  are  of  the  very  highest  order  of 
excellence  and  the  literary  matter  is  from  the  acknowl 
edged  writers  of  America.  Such  men  as  Cooper,  Pauld- 
ing,  Bryant,  Longfellow  and  Lowell  would  sustain  the 
reputation  of  any  magazine  without  plates,  but  when 
we  add  to  a  single  number  engravings  from  such  artists 
as  Sartain,  Smillie  and  Rawdon,  Wright  and  Hatch,  the 
highest  order  of  excellence  must  be  attained.  No  pub 
lisher  can  issue  a  handsomer  or  more  sterling  work. 
We  say  this  on  the  confidence  of  truth;  and  having 


FRONTISPIECE 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  277 

secured  exclusively  the  best  writers  and  the  best  engrav 
ers,  we  feel  as  secure  in  this  business  as  any  man  can  with 
the  reins  in  his  own  hand." 

But  he  was  not  to  keep  the  reins  in  his  own  hand. 
Disaster  overtook  him  in  1848  and  Samuel  Dewees  Pat 
terson  became  the  principal  owner  of  the  property. 

Colonel  Patterson,  like  Graham,  was  a  Montgomery 
Countian,  having  been  born  in  an  old  inn  at  Jefferson- 
ville,  near  Norristown.  He  learned  to  set  type  in  the 
office  of  a  Norristown  newspaper,  later  became  the 
state  printer  at  Harrisburg,  wrote  verse,  published  the 
"Saturday  Evening  Post"  from  1843  to  1848,  and 
now,  through  its  owner's  unhappy  speculations,  came 
into  control  of  "  Graham's  Magazine."  Colonel  Pat 
terson  retained  Mr.  Graham  as  one  of  the  editors.  "  A 
series  of  misfortunes  having  bereft  me  of  any  proprie 
tary  interest  in  this  magazine,"  said  its  former  owner  in 
an  open  letter  to  his  subscribers,  it  would  now  be  his 
study  to  attend  more  closely  to  their  interests,  and  to 
work  for  the  "  redemption  "  of  the  great  periodical 
which  bore  his  name.  "  What  a  daring  enterprise  in 
business  can  do,"  he  continued,  "  I  have  already  shown 
in  Graham's  Magazine  and  the  North  American,  and, 
alas !  I  have  also  shown  what  folly  can  do  when  business 
is  forgotten;  but  I  can  yet  show  the  world  that  he  who 
started  as  a  poor  boy  with  but  eight  dollars  in  his 
pocket  and  has  run  such  a  career  as  mine  is  hard  to  be 
put  down  by  the  calumnies  or  ingratitude  of  any." 

Much  sympathy  was  expressed  for  the  bold  editor 
and  he  was  enabled  in  a  short  time  to  recover  a  part  of 
his  fortune,  though  not  before  a  dangerous  rival  ap 
peared  in  the  field  in  the  shape  of  "  Sartain's  Maga 
zine."  William  Sloanaker,  Graham's  business  mana- 


278  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

ger,  had  persuaded  John  Sartain,  the  engraver,  to  es 
tablish  a  periodical  which  it  was  expected  would  gain 
many  of  the  older  magazine's  subscribers,  now  that  the 
strong  hand  of  its  owner  was  no  longer  guiding  it.  It 
was  a  secession.  Sartain  ceased  to  contribute  to  "  Gra 
ham's  "  his  engravings  made  by  the  mezzotinting  proc 
ess,  now  blended  with  lining  and  stippling  to  produce 
new  and  even  more  beautiful  effects;  he  reserved  them 
to  enrich  his  own  periodical.  The  artist  and  his  partner 
had  purchased,  for  $5000,  the  u  Union  Magazine,"  of 
New  York,  which  was  edited  by  Mrs.  Caroline  M.  Kirk- 
land,  transferred  it  to  Philadelphia,  and  re-christened  it 
"  Sartain's  Union  Magazine  of  Literature  and  Art." 
Professor  John  S.  Hart,  the  principal  of  the  Philadel 
phia  High  School,  and  a  compiler  of  several  manuals, 
was  employed  to  assist  Mrs.  Kirkland  in  the  editorial 
department  and  money  was  freely  expended  to  obtain 
the  work  of  the  best  writers  of  the  day,  both  foreign 
and  American.  A  series  of  papers  were  received  from 
Harriet  Martineau.  Novels  by  Frederika  Bremer,  the 
popular  Swedish  authoress,  who  spent  a  year  or  two  in 
the  United  States  in  the  middle  of  the  century,  and  by 
William  and  Mary  Howitt,  the  English  writers, 
adorned  the  pages  of  the  magazine.  Longfellow  con 
tributed  his  translation  of  "  The  Blind  Girl  of  Castel 
Cuille,"  and  his  poem,  "  Resignation,"  beginning  — 

"  There  is  no  flock,  however  watched  and  tended, 

But  one  dead  lamb  is  there. 
There  is  no  fireside,  howsoe'er  defended, 
But  has  one  vacant  chair." 

George  H.   Boker,   Mrs.   Sigourney,   Lydia     Maria 
Child,  Albert  Barnes,  Mrs.  Ellet,  Mrs.  Esling,  Lucy 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  279 

Larcom,  Henry  T.  Tuckerman,  Park  Benjamin,  R.  H. 
Stoddard  and  many  other  writers  of  the  day  sent  their 
work  to  the  editors.  Charles  Godfrey  Leland  wrote 
regularly  for  the  magazine.  Here  Poe's  poem,  "  The 
Bells/'  was  first  published,  instantly  gaining  great  popu 
larity.  At  his  death,  "  Sartain's  "  announced  rather 
jubilantly  that  it  had  in  hand  another  of  his  poems  which 
would  be  published  in  an  early  number;  but  meantime 
it  had  appeared  in  the  New  York  "  Tribune  "  and  was 
going  the  rounds  of  the  press,  although  the  Philadelphia 
magazine  had  "  bought  and  paid  for  "  it.  Mr.  Sar- 
tain's  only  consolation  was  found  in  the  fact  that  two  or 
three  other  editors  were  in  the  same  predicament  in 
reference  to  this  ballad,  which  proved  to  be  "  Annabel 
Lee":— 

"It  was  many  and  many  a  year  ago, 

In  a  kingdom  by  the  sea, 
That  a  maiden  there  lived  whom  you  may  know 

By  the  name  of  Annabel  Lee. 
And  this  maiden  she  lived  with  no  other  thought 
Than  to  love  and  be  loved  by  me." 

"  Sartain's "  early  seemed  to  promise  financial  suc 
cess.  Its  circulation  after  six  months  was  said  to  be 
20,000  copies  and  it  was  nearly  30,000  at  the  end  of  the 
first  year.  But  it  found  itself  in  very  close  quarters  with 
the  other  Philadelphia  magazines.  "  Graham's  "  was  in 
tellectually  higher  than  "  Godey's,"  and  "  Sartain's  " 
professed  to  be  and  probably  was  moving  on  a  somewhat 
loftier  plane  than  "  Graham's."  In  any  case  there  was 
little  modesty  in  putting  forth  this  claim  and  to  the  fact 
that  it  was  rather  deficient  in  the  ability  to  read  and 
interpret  popular  taste  its  defeat  is  probably  due.  Even 


THE    BELLS. 


BT  EDOAR  A.  POE. 


Hn«  the  iled-t*  with  the  belU- 

Silrer  belUt 

What  ft  world  of  merriment  their  melody  forctclUt 
How  ibry  tinkle,  tinkle,  tinkle, 

In  the  Icy  air  of  nir-hi! 
\Vi,ilt  tb«  tUn  that  oTcrsprtnkle 
All  the  hcarcm,  term  to  twinkle 

With  a  crystalline  delight; 
Keeping  timo,  time,  time, 
In  a  sort  of  Runic  rhymo, 
To  the  tintinnabulation  that  to  musically  wells 
From  the  bells,  belli,  bell*,  bell*, 

Bell*,  bc-11*,  bell*— 
From  the  jingling  and  UM  tinkling  of  UM  bells. 


Uttr  the  mellow,  wed  ding-bell* 

Golden  belli  I* 

What  a  world  of  happloou  tbeir  harmony  foreUllsl 
Through  the  balmy  air  of  night 
How  {bey  tin;  out  their  delight!— 
from  tbe  molten-golden  note*, 

And  til  In  tune, 
Wbit  a  liquid  ditty  float* 
To  the  turtledove  that  liitcns,  while  tbe  gloat* 

On  tbc  mooo  I 

Oh,  from  out  tbe  Bounding  cell*. 
What  a  gu»h  o(  euphony  rolumlnously  well* I 
UowltiwclUI 
Bow  It  dwells 

On  the  Future!— how  It  tclli 

Of  the  rapture  that  Impel* 

To  tbe  twinging  and  the  .ringing 

Of  tbe  bell*,  belli,  U-lls- 
(X  the  belli,  bell*,  bell*,  bills, 

Bells  belli,  belli— 
To  the  rhyming  aud  Uw  chiming  of  the  belli! 


Dear  the  load  alarum  bclls- 

Draien  belli! 

What  a  We  of  terror,  now,  their  turbnlcncy  tell*! 
In  the  ttartled  car  of  ni^-bl 
How  they  scream  out  their  affright' 
Too  m'uch  horrified  to  *peak, 
They  can  only  shrtck,  shriek. 

Out  of  tune, 

IB  a  elamoroiit  appralins  to  the  mercy  of  tbe  are, 
In  a  mad  cipwtulation  with  the  deaf  nnd  frautic  Or*, 
leaping  higher,  higher,  higher, 
With  a  uVfperatt  ditlrc, 
And  a  molute  cudrarour 
Now— now  to  ill,  or  ncrcr, 
Dy  tbe  tide  of  the  pale-faced  moon. 
Ob,  the  brill,  bell*,  belUI 
« tut  a  tale  their  terror  lelU 
Of  Dcipalrl 


How  they  clang,  and  cla<h,  and  roar  I 
What  a  horror  they  outpour 
On  the  boiom  of  the  palpitating  air) 
Vet  the  ear,  It  fully  knowt^ 
Dy  tbc  twanging 
And  Ibe  clanging, 
IIow  tbc  danger  ebb*  and  flow*; 
Yet  tbe  ear  distinctly  tells, 
In  thcjan;ling 
And  (he  wrangling, 
Dow  tbc  dan-ir  stnki  and  iwcll*. 
By  the  unking  or  tbc  swelling  in  tbc  anger  of  tbe  bell*— 

Of  the  bcllv-  -•• 
Of  the  bells  bills,  bells,  boll*. 

Voll.s  be!!.-.,  bellt- 
In  the  clamour  and  the  clangour  of  the  belli' 


Hear  the  tolling  of  UM  bellt- 

Iron  bell*  I 

What  a  world  of  colemn  thought  their  monody  oompeUf 
In  the  silence  of  the  night, 
How  we  (hirer  with  affright 
At  the  melancholy  menace  of  their  tone! 
For  erery  sound  that  float* 
From  tbe  ruit  within  their  throat* 

I*  a  groan. 

And  the  people— ah,  the  people— 
They  that  dwell  up  in  the  rteeple. 

All  alone, 
And  vhn,  tolling,  tolling,  tolling, 

In  that  muffled  monotone, ' 
Feel  a  glory  in  to  rolling 

On  the  human  heart  o  stone— i 
They  are  neither  man  nor  wi>oian-*> 
They  arc  neither  brute  nor  human— 

They  arc  Obouli  :— 
And  their  king  it  it  who  tolli:— 
And  be  roll*,  rolls,  rolls, ' 

Itolli    | 

A  pcsn  from  the  bells  I 
And  his  merry  botom  iwelli 

With  the  p*>an  of  tbe  belli  I 
And  be  daaoes,  and  be  yells  i 
Keeping  time,  time,  tim«, 
In  a  oort  of  Runic  rhyme. 
To  tbe  pxan  of  the  bell*— 

Of  the  belli  :- 
Keeping  time.  time,  time, 
In  a  sort  of  Runic  rhyme,* 

To  tbc  throbbing  of  the  bell*— 
Of  the  be!!-,  hell*,  belli- 

To  tbc  lobbing  of  the  tell*  :— 
Keeping  tim.>,  tiuio,  time, 

A.  h-  k,,.lls  knells,  kncll*. 
In  a  happy  Kunlc  rhym^ 

To  the  rolling  of  the  bell*- 
Of  Ihc  bell*,  bells,  belli  >- 

To  tbc  tolling  of  tbc  Mia- 
Of  the  bells,  bells,  bells,  bell*, 

j.BclK  bells,  belli—  • 
To  the  moaning  and  the  groaning-  eT  UM  bell*. 


A  PAGE  FROM  "  SARTAIN'S  MAGAZINE; 
"  THE   BELLS  " 


FIRST  PUBLICATION  OF 


UNDINE 

An   engraving   by   John   Sartain   in    "Sartain's   Magazine" 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  281 

"  Sartain's  "  did  not  dare  to  neglect  the  fashions  in 
female  dress,  but  the  sentimental  stories,  verses  and  en 
gravings,  which  filled  "  Godey's  "  and  were  not  wholly 
excluded  from  "  Graham's,"  occupied  but  very  little 
space  in  the  new  publication.  It  plumed  itself  upon  its 
superiority  in  this  direction.  Its  editors  boasted  that 
they  had  "  sedulously  excluded  from  its  pages  the  whole 
brood  of  half-fledged  witlings  with  fancy  names  —  the 
Lilies  and  the  Lizzies  —  the  sighing  swains  and  rhym 
ing  milkmaids  of  literature."  They  convinced  them 
selves  that  the  public  had  shown  "  unequivocal  symp 
toms  of  disgust  "  with  such  writings. 

The  undertaking  was  doomed  to  disastrous  failure. 
Professor  Hart  and  Mrs.  Kirkland  left  the  editorship" 
and  were  followed  by  Dr.  Reynell  Coates,  who  in  turn, 
after  a  few  months,  gave  place  to  Mr.  Sartain  himself. 
In  February,  1851,  $1,000  were  offered  for  ten  prize 
tales  or  essays  and  over  four  hundred  writers  submitted 
manuscripts  in  the  competition.  The  editor,  making 
a  virtue  of  his  necessity,  declared  that  in  future  more 
attention  wrould  be  given  to  the  work  of  native  writers 
and  artists.  "  Enough  of  the  beautiful  in  literature  and 
art  may  be  found  in  foreign  productions,"  he  said,  "but 
encouragement  of  the  talent  at  home  is  a  paramount 
duty  and  it  is  all  we  can  afford  to  attend  to."  The  first 
number  of  the  magazine  was  issued  in  January,  1849, 
the  last  in  1852.  In  the  three  years,  from  $15,000  to 
$20,000  had  been  paid  to  authors,  and  it  was  seven  and 
a  half  years  before  Mr.  Sartain  could  discharge  the 
debts  in  which  he  had  become  involved  by  this  unhappy 
venture.  He  lived  until  1897  and  just  before  his  death 
published  an  interesting  volume  of  memoirs,  "  The 
Reminiscences  of  a  Very  Old  Man." 


282  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

In  the  meantime  Graham  had  again  become  the  owner 
of  his  famous  periodical,  in  1850  buying  back  the  inter 
est  he  had  been  obliged  to  dispose  of  to  Mr.  Patterson 
two  years  before,  and  he  began  a  most  active  campaign 
for  subscribers. 

"  That  we  feel  proud  of  our  reinstation  in  this  maga 
zine  —  the  child  of  our  happier  days,"  this  direct  and 
single-hearted  man  remarked  to  his  readers,  u  we  shall 
not  deny.  The  gold  that  bought  it  for  us  —  if  esti 
mated  by  the  happiness  it  has  diffused  —  must  have 
dropped  from  Heaven  baptized  for  good.  The  dark 
shadows,  the  regrets  and  heart-burnings  of  the  past  are 
over."  The  light  was  leaping  "  over  the  mountain 
tops,"  and  the  portrait  of  himself  with  a  flattering 
sketch  by  his  friend,  Charles  J.  Peterson,  which  ap 
peared  in  the  magazine  to  celebrate  his  reinstatement, 
brought  blushes  to  his  cheek,  he  said,  "  like  a  maiden's 
before  the  ardor  of  her  first  lover."  He  wrote  again 
to  the  authors  of  New  England,  inviting  them  to  send 
him  their  stories,  essays  and  poems,  as  they  had  sent 
them  to  him  before,  and  again  expended  money  freely. 
He  warmly  supported  the  younger  Pennsylvania  writers. 
Of  one  issue  late  in  1851  he  printed  80,000  copies,  many 
of  which,  however,  were  given  away  as  samples,  and 
are  not  a  fair  indication  of  the  magazine's  prosperity. 

From  Poe's  time  onward  the  department  of  "  Gra 
ham's  "  which  was  devoted  to  the  criticism  of  current 
books,  was  noted  for  the  brilliancy  of  its  opinions  and 
the  independence  and  fearlessness  with  which  they  were 
uttered.  Its  standards  were  high  and  its  judgments 
undeviating  in  a  demand  for  value  between  book  covers. 
If  it  were  true,  as  Lowell  declared,  that  Poe  sometimes 
mistook  "  his  phial  of  prussic  acid  for  his  inkstand,"  he 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  283 

said  what  he  believed  and  he  usually  believed  what  was 
worth  believing.  In  later  years  E.  P.  Whipple  re 
viewed  the  more  important  books  for  the  magazine. 
"  Graham's  "  always  dealt  out  its  praise  and  criticism 
honestly  and,  if  we  mistake  not,  its  scathing  attack  upon 
"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  "  was  no  small  influence  to  hasten 
its  end.  That  remarkable  review  of  Mrs.  Stowe's  anti- 
slavery  story,  entitled  "  Black  Letters,  or  Uncle  Tom 
Foolery  in  Literature,"  created  a  great  pother  in  all 
parts  of  the  North.  In  response  to  his  critics,  Graham 
yielded  nothing.  He  contended  u  that  there  is  a  slavery 
more  ignoble  than  that  of  the  body  and  that  the  man 
who  has  not  the  courage  to  speak  and  write  what  he 
thinks  is  just  and  true  is  already  fettered  with  bonds 
more  potent  than  those  of  any  other  slave  —  negro  or 
white." 

He  would  not  be  "  gagged  or  coughed  down  "  by 
the  "  whole  fraternity  of  proscriptives."  He  reiterated 
that  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  "  was  a  "  bad  book."  It 
was,  said  he,  "  badly  constructed,  badly  timed  and  made 
for  a  bad  purpose."  It  was  "  a  mere  distortion  of 
facts,  a  stupendous  lie";  in  short,  a  "most  despicable 
novel,"  from  the  sale  of  which  thousands  of  dollars 
were  to  be  made  by  mercenary  publishers.  He  invited 
the  Abolitionists,  if  they  had  the  real  good  of  the  negro 
at  heart,  to  exercise  their  minds  over  the  condition  of 
the  free  negroes  in  the  North.  He  himself  had  taught 
negroes  for  years  in  a  Sunday  School  and  he  now 
offered  to  pay  $1,000  to  Charles  S.  Boker  (George  H. 
Boker's  father),  the  President  of  the  Girard  Bank,  to 
found  a  college  in  Philadelphia  for  free  negroes,  if 
300  Abolitionists  would  subscribe  the  same  amount,  an 
opportunity  which  no  one  embraced. 


284  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Graham  had  found  it  not  difficult  to  survive  the  com 
petition  of  the  declining  "  Knickerbocker  Magazine," 
but  he  now  had  to  face  the  rivalry  of  "  Harper's  "  and 
in  a  little  while  "  Putnam's  "  also,  both  periodicals  of 
large  resources.  He  ascribed  the  change  of  the  tide  to 
the  tendency  which  was  revived  to  make  magazines 
from  material  abstracted  without  price  and  often 
without  credit  from  foreign  publications.  "  Will  there 
never  be  pride  enough  in  the  American  people,"  he 
asked,  "  to  stand  by  those  who  support  a  national  litera 
ture?  Or  to  urge  upon  Congress  an  International 
Copyright  Law?  " 

Graham  finally  parted  with  his  magazine  in  1853  or 
1854,  and  it  rapidly  declined.  In  1857  Charles  God 
frey  Leland  made  a  valiant  effort  to  revive  the  vogue 
of  the  periodical  with  page  upon  page  of  his  delightful 
humor,  but  in  1859  ^ts  name  was  changed  and  it  soon 
disappeared,  its  famous  founder,  editor  and  proprietor 
seeking  his  livelihood  on  the  face  of  the  waters  for  forty 
years,  to  die,  in  1894,  a  forgotten  old  man,  broken  in 
health  and  a  charge  upon  the  charity  of  his  friends, 
who  had  all  but  disappeared.  When  he  was  seventy, 
his  eyesight  failed,  but  it  was  partially  restored  by  an 
operation.  He  was  sustained,  in  misfortune,  by  George 
W.  Childs,  the  philanthropic  editor  of  the  "  Public 
Ledger,"  who  for  long  allowed  no  man  to  know  of  his 
generosity  toward  one  to  whom  American  literature 
owed  so  much,  though  the  service  was  so  generally  for 
got.  Mr.  Graham  outlived  his  benefactor,  dying  on 
July  13,  1894,  in  the  Memorial  Hospital  at  Orange, 
N.  J.,  with  no  kinsman  or  friend  to  stand  at  his  bedside. 
Frank  W.  Baldwin  of  West  Orange,  upon  whom 
the  charitable  task  of  supporting  Mr.  Graham  after  Mr. 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  285 

Childs'  death  principally  devolved,  brought  the  remains 
to  Philadelphia  to  be  placed  in  the  Laurel  Hill  Cem 
etery. 

In  the  group  of  writers,  editors  and  artists  who 
were  closely  connected  with  "  Graham's,"  its  predeces 
sor,  "  Burton's,"  or  its  offshoot,  "  Sartain's,"  and  who 
were  natives  of  the  city  or  made  it  their  home  for  a 
longer  or  shorter  time  during  this  period,  in  answer  to 
pecuniary  blandishments,  Edgar  Allan  Poe  and  James 
Russell  Lowell  are  the  most  notable.  Philadelphia 
will  always  recall,  with  a  sense  of  interested  pride,  their 
association  with  the  city,  which,  if  rather  brief  for 
Lowell,  covered  about  five  years,  the  happiest,  of  Poe's 
feverish  life. 

Poe  had  ended  his  connection  with  the  "  Southern 
Literary  Messenger "  in  Richmond  and  had  passed 
through  Philadelphia  on  his  way  to  New  York  in  1837. 
The  next  summer  he  returned  to  the  city  to  make  it  his 
home  indefinitely,  hoping  to  find  among  its  publishers 
some  supporting  hand.  The  old  house  of  Mathew 
Carey,  which  had  now  become  Lea  and  Blanchard,  pub 
lished  some  of  his  tales,  they  taking  all  the  gains  and 
allowing  the  author  twenty  copies  for  distribution  among 
his  friends.  Even  this  arrangement  was  not  profit 
able  and  they  declined  to  make  any  further  issues  of  his 
works,  although  he  urged  them  to  new  adventures.  It 
was  his  unchanging  desire  from  this  time  until  his 
death  to  have  a  magazine  of  his  own,  and  it  was  prob 
ably  less  in  the  hope  of  finding  what  he  did,  a  sub 
editor's  desk  in  the  office  of  an  already  established  mag 
azine,  than  capitalists  willing  to  assist  him  in  realizing 
greater  ambitions,  that  he  was  drawn  to  Philadelphia. 

William  E.  Burton  had  lately  started  his  "  Gentle- 


286  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

man's  Magazine."  Already  Poe  was  rather  widely 
known  as  a  writer,  if  there  were  few  to  read  his  books, 
and  he  was  employed  at  ten  dollars  a  week,  in  return 
for  which  his  name  was  placed  beside  Burton's  on  the 
cover  and  he  furnished,  by  his  own  reckoning,  an  aver 
age  of  eleven  pages  of  original  matter  monthly  beside 
his  services  in  proof-reading  and  other  editorial  work. 
For  much  of  the  time  he  was  on  such  terms  with  his 
employer  that  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  relation  was 
continued.  There  were  the  most  unpleasant  passages 
between  the  two  men,  especially  after  Poe  issued  his 
prospectus  for  "  The  Penn  Magazine,"  which  was  to 
appear  on  January  i,  1841.  His  illness,  a  financial 
depression  and  an  offer  to  become  an  editor  of  "  Gra 
ham's  "  induced  the  poet  to  change  his  plans.  Until 
the  spring  of  1842  he  was  now  regularly  employed  at  a 
desk  beside  Mr.  Graham's.  That  the  relationship  was 
pleasant  to  the  employer,  he  later  attested  generously 
and  cheerfully. 

At  the  end  of  this  engagement  Poe  was  again  at  the 
mercy  of  the  world.  He  had  married  his  cousin,  Vir 
ginia  Clemm,  in  Richmond,  when  she  was  not  yet  four 
teen  years  old,  and  this  child  and  his  aunt-mother,  Mrs. 
Clemm,  his  father's  widowed  sister,  made  up  a  house 
hold  of  which  he  was  the  unfit  pecuniary  mainstay. 
While  in  Philadelphia  they  had  several  homes.  They 
boarded  first  in  Arch  Street.  According  to  John  Sar- 
tain's  "  Reminiscences,"  they  resided  for  a  time  in  Six 
teenth  Street  near  Locust.  Later  they  had  a  little  home 
in  Coates  Street  (Fairmount  Avenue)  near  Twenty- 
fifth,  on  the  borders  of  Fairmount  Park,  far  from  the 
city's  centre  and  then  a  very  isolated  place.  From  this 
dwelling  they  removed  to  the  little  "  rose-covered  cot- 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  287 

tage  " —  Mayne  Reid  calls  it  a  "  lean-to  " —  set  against 
the  gable  of  a  large  four-story  brick  house  occupied  by 
an  opulent  Quaker,  "  a  dealer  in  cereals,"  who  was  the 
poet's  landlord,  and  who,  if  report  be  true,  was  not  very 
proud  of  the  relationship.  The  cottage  is  now  identi 
fied  as  the  back  buildings  of  the  house  standing  at  530 
North  Seventh  Street,  at  the  corner  of  Brandywine 
which  is  a  small  street  just  above  Spring  Garden. 
Walls  have  been  built  in  what  was  then  a  garden,  filled 
in  summer  with  vines  and  flowers  which  in  the  winter 
were  carried  inside  to  blossom  behind  the  glass.  Here 
the  delicate  child-wife,  who,  like  Poe,  had  the  fatal 
heritage  of  consumption,  tasted  the  sweets  of  life  that 
were  to  be  enjoyed  so  briefly.  She  had  her  harp  and 
piano,  to  wThich  she  sang  for  Mayne  Reid,  who  met  Poe 
intimately  and  almost  daily  for  two  years;  Thomas  Cot- 
trell  Clarke,  Mr.  Graham,  and  the  guests  who  cared  to 
seek  them  out  in  their  retreat.  Neat  furnishings,  birds, 
and  the  motherly  love  and  attention  of  Mrs.  Clemm, 
made  it  a  home  that  was  not  unbefitting  a  man  of  Poe's 
mould.  He  had  resolved  not  again  to  taste  the  liquors 
that  the  convivial  people  of  Richmond  had  put  to  his 
lips,  at  times  disqualifying  him  for  his  duties  while  in 
that  city.  He  seems  to  have  kept  his  resolution  toler 
ably  well  until  his  wife  in  singing  ruptured  a  blood  ves 
sel,  and  the  frail  creature,  who  was  the  object  of  his 
deep,  honest,  unchanging  love,  entered  upon  that  series 
of  collapses  that  brought  him  so  often  to  what  he  be 
lieved  to  be  her  dying  bed,  to  part  with  her  forever. 

He  had  revived  his  project  for  a  magazine  and  made 
such  progress  with  the  idea  that  he  entered  into  a  part 
nership  with  Thomas  Cottrell  Clarke  for  issuing  it  at  a 
definite  date.  F.  O.  C.  Darley,  to  whom  Poe  carried 


288  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

his  manuscript,  always  in  a  tight  roll, —  his  small,  fault 
less  print-like  writing  on  note  paper,  the  bottom  of  one 
sheet  pasted  to  the  top  of  the  next,  to  be  unwound  like  a 
scroll,  falling  upon  the  floor  as  his  reading  of  it  pro 
ceeded —  was  to  be  the  artist  of  the  magazine.  They 
had  determined  that  it  should  be  called  "  The  Stylus/' 
but  the  scheme  came  to  naught.  Poe  must  still  rely  up 
on  the  sale  of  his  fugitive  writings  to  other  editors,  a 
most  precarious  means  of  support.  He  always  wrote  by 
fits  and  starts.  "  There  are  epochs  when  any  kind  of 
mental  exercise  is  torture,"  he  told  James  Russell  Low 
ell,  whom  he  deeply  admired.  "  I  have  thus  rambled 
and  dreamed  away  whole  months  and  awake  at  last  to  a 
sort  of  mania  for  composition."  It  was  galling  to  Poe 
to  write  to  order  at  stated  times,  or,  indeed,  to  subject 
himself  to  any  kind  of  discipline  or  restraint.  Especial 
ly  uncongenial  was  much  of  the  writing  which  he  must 
do  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  editors  and  which  now 
plays  so  large  a  part  in  the  complete  editions  of  his 
works.  It  is  unfortunate  that  Poe,  or  any  writer  lead 
ing  such  a  life  as  his,  should  be  made  to  answer  to  the 
latest  generations  for  all  that  he  contributes  to  period 
icals  which  he  despises,  for  the  enjoyment  of  classes  of 
people  for  whom  he  can  have  no  literary  sympathy. 
While  in  Philadelphia  he  seems  to  have  written  "  The 
Murders  in  the  Rue  Morgue,"  which  appeared  in  "Gra 
ham's  "  in  1841  to  signalize  his  engagement  with  that 
magazine;  "The  Gold  Bug,"  the  most  popular  of  his 
prose  tales,  which  won  the  prize  offered  by  and  was 
printed  in  "The  Dollar  Newspaper";  and  doubtless 
"  The  Raven,"  his  most  successful  poem,  which  was 
published  in  New  York  shortly  after  his  arrival  there. 
But  doing  all  he  could,  Poe's  poor  efforts  did  not  suf- 


I 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  289 

fice  to  keep,  even  in  tolerable  comforts,  himself,  his  frail, 
dying  wife,  and  his  faithful  mother-in-law  and  aunt 
who  was  so  true  to  her  "  Eddie  "  in  life,  and  defended 
his  memory  so  bravely  after  his  death.  "  She  was  the 
sole  servant,  keeping  everything  clean,"  said  Mayne 
Reid  of  Mrs.  Clemm  in  recalling  his  visits  to  the  Poe 
home  in  Philadelphia;  "  the  sole  messenger,  doing  the 
errands,  making  pilgrimages  between  the  poet  and  his 
publishers,  frequently  bringing  back  such  chilling  re 
sponses  as  *  The  article  not  accepted  '  or  '  The  check  not 
to  be  given  until  such  and  such  a  day/  often  too  late  for 
his  necessities."  After  nearly  five  years  in  Philadel 
phia,  without  finding  the  city  too  grateful,  Poe  deter 
mined  to  remove  to  New  York.  One  morning  in  April, 
1844,  ne  and  Virginia,  Mrs.  Clemm  being  left  behind 
to  settle  their  affairs,  were  driven  with  their  belongings 
to  Walnut  Street  wharf,  crossing  to  New  Jersey,  whence 
they  made  their  way  to  Amboy  by  rail.  The  rest  of  the 
journey,  forty  miles  by  Poe's  own  measurement,  was 
accomplished  in  a  steamboat.  When  he  reached  New 
York,  after  paying  all  his  expenses,  he  had  in  his  pockets 
about  four  dollars  and  a  half  with  which  to  begin  his 
life  in  a  new  city  where  poverty  was  more  cruel  than  it 
had  ever  been  in  Philadelphia. 

Of  their  life  in  New  York  N.  P.  Willis  has  given  us  a 
vision  as  clear  as  we  need  to  behold.  "  Our  first  knowl 
edge  of  Mr.  Poe's  removal  to  this  city,"  said  Mr.  Willis, 
"  was  by  a  call  which  we  received  from  a  lady  who  in 
troduced  herself  as  the  mother  of  his  wife.  She  was  in 
search  of  employment  for  him  and  she  excused  her 
errand  by  mentioning  that  he  was  ill,  that  her  daughter 
was  a  confirmed  invalid,  and  that  their  circumstances 
were  such  as  compelled  her  taking  it  upon  herself.  The 


290  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

countenance  of  this  lady,  made  beautiful  and  saintly 
with  an  evidently  complete  giving  up  of  her  life  to  pri 
vation  and  sorrowful  tenderness,  her  gentle  and  mourn 
ful  voice  urging  its  plea,  her  long  forgotten  but  habitu 
ally  and  unconsciously  refined  manners  and  her  appeal 
ing  and  yet  appreciative  mention  of  the  charms  and  abil 
ities  of  her  son,  disclosed  at  once  the  presence  of  one  of 
those  angels  upon  earth  that  women  in  adversity  can  be. 
.  .  .  Winter  after  winter  for  years  the  most  touch 
ing  sight  to  us  in  the  whole  city  has  been  that  tireless 
minister  to  genius,  thinly  and  insufficiently  clad,  going 
from  office  to  office  with  a  poem,  or  an  article  on  some 
literary  subject  to  sell  —  sometimes  simply  pleading  in 
a  broken  voice  that  he  was  ill  and  begging  for  him  — 
mentioning  nothing  but  that  '  he  was  ill,'  whatever 
might  be  the  reason  for  his  writing  nothing  —  and 
never,  amid  all  her  tears  and  recitals  of  distress,  suffer 
ing  one  syllable  to  escape  her  lips  that  could  convey  a 
doubt  of  him,  or  a  complaint  or  a  lessening  of  pride  in 
his  genius  and  good  intentions." 

The  poor  willowy  wife  on  a  straw  bed,  warmed  by 
the  furry  cat  that  purred  on  her  breast  and  the  great 
military  cloak  of  the  husband,  who  loved  her  but  was 
powerless  to  procure  her  the  commonest  comforts  at  the 
dying  hour,  is  a  picture  that  will  never  fade  from  the 
mind. 

Her  life  ended  in  the  cold  January  of  1847  anc^  *nc 
disappearance  of  the  "  greatest  and  only  stimulus  to 
battle  with  this  uncongenial,  unsatisfactory  and  ungrate 
ful  life,"  as  Poe  described  his  Virginia,  left  him  a  drift 
ing  wreck,  which  finally  sank  in  Baltimore  in  1849, 
shortly  after  a  visit  to  John  Sartain  in  Philadelphia, 
when  the  artist,  with  difficulty,  saved  him  from  suicide 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  291 

while  in  a  wild  frenzy  brought  on  by  drink,  narcotics, 
grief  and  disease. 

It  would  be  hard  to  find  two  lives  that  contrast  so 
forcefully  as  Poe's  and  Lowell's  in  Philadelphia :  one 
led  in  sorrow,  disappointment  and  poverty;  the  other  in 
the  joy  of  the  honeymoon  with  the  world  stretching  out 
happily  before  him.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  pass  from  so 
much  dark  misery  into  the  light.  Lowell  married  Maria 
White  near  the  end  of  1844.  She  had  previously  spent 
some  months  in  the  city  and  had  grown  to  like  it.  "  I 
have  talked  so  much  to  James  of  Philadelphia,"  she 
writes,  "  that  I  have  inspired  him  with  the  desire  to  try 
its  virtues."  They  reached  the  city  on  New  Year's 
Day,  1845,  and  found  lodgings  at  127  Arch  Street*  in 
the  house  of  a  Mrs.  Parker,  a  kindly  Quakeress.  "  We 
have  a  little  room  in  the  third  story  (back),  with  white 
muslin  curtains  trimmed  with  evergreen,"  Lowell  wrote 
to  a  friend,  "  and  are  as  happy  as  two  mortals  can  be. 
I  think  Maria  is  better  and  I  know  I  am  —  in  health,  I 
mean  —  in  spirit  we  both  are.  She  is  gaining  flesh  and 
so  am  I,  and  my  cheeks  are  grown  so  preposterously  red 
that  I  look  as  if  I  had  rubbed  them  against  all  the  red 
brick  walls  in  the  city." 

Mrs.  Lowell  echoed  her  husband's  happiness  in  a 
letter  to  Mrs.  Hawthorne.  "  James's  prospects,"  she 
wrote,  "  are  as  good  as  an  author's  ought  to  be  and  I 
begin  to  fear  we  shall  not  have  the  satisfaction  of  being 
so  very  poor  after  all.  But  we  are,  in  spite  of  this  dis 
appointment  of  our  expectations,  the  happiest  of  mor 
tals  or  spirits  and  cling  to  the  skirts  of  every  passing 

*  Old  number.  Identified  by  Albert  H.  Smyth,  in  his  useful 
study  of  the  Philadelphia  magazines,  as  the  house  standing  at  the 
north-east  corner  of  Fourth  and  Arch  Streets. 


292  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

hour  though  we  know  the  next  will  bring  us  still  more 

joy." 

Mrs.  Lowell  translated  German  verse,  for  which 
there  was  a  demand  in  the  magazines,  and  her  husband 
employed  himself  in  writing  u  leaders  "  at  five  dollars 
each  for  the  u  Pennsylvania  Freeman,"  the  fortnightly 
anti-slavery  paper  which  Whittier  had  earlier  edited  for 
two  years;  and  poems  and  essays  for  "  Graham's  Maga 
zine  " ;  although  he  found  it  hard  to  work  when  just 
married,  and  thought  it  ought  not  to  be  necessary. 
"  The  Jews,"  said  he,  "  gave  a  man  a  year's  vacation." 

Two  weeks  after  his  arrival  in  Philadelphia,  Lowell 
wrote  to  a  friend :  "  I  have  seen  Graham  and  shall 
probably  be  able  to  make  a  good  arrangement  after  my 
new  book  has  been  puffed  a  little  more.  He  has  grown 
fat,  an  evidence  of  success.  He  lives  in  one  of  the  finest 
houses  in  Arch  Street  and  keeps  his  carriage.  He  says 
he  would  have  given  me  $150  for  the  '  Legend  of  Brit 
tany  '  for  his  magazine  without  the  copyright.  I  am 
sorry  I  did  not  think  of  this  at  the  time."  Soon,  Mrs. 
Lowell  expecting  the  birth  of  a  child,  their  faces  were 
turned  to  Cambridge  again,  and,  after  a  carriage  jour 
ney  through  Chester  County  with  their  friends,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  E.  M.  Davis,  Lucretia  Mott's  son-in-law  and 
daughter,  they  left  the  city  at  the  end  of  May,  1845, 
before  they  had  become  very  closely  identified  with  its 
people  or  its  life. 

George  P.  Morris,  who  frequently  sent  his  songs  to 
the  Philadelphia  periodicals  —  they  were  eagerly  sought 
wherever  magazines  were  published  —  was  a  native  of 
the  city,  although  he  left  it  at  a  very  early  age 
to  make  his  home  in  New  York,  where  in  1823  he 
founded  the  New  York  "  Mirror,"  which  for  its  time 


THE    BELLE    OF    THE    OPERA 

Characteristic    engraving    from    "Graham's    Magazine" 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  293 

performed  a  service,  as  "  a  field-marshal  of  our  native 
forces,"  much  akin  to  Dennie's  a  decade  or  so  earlier 
through  the  "  Port  Folio."  Morris  became  "  the 
song  writer  of  America."  "  He  is  just  what  poets 
would  be  if  they  sang  like  birds  without  criticism,"  said 
his  friend  Willis,  "  and  it  is  a  peculiarity  of  his  fame 
that  it  seems  as  regardless  of  criticism  as  a  bird  in  the 
air.  Nothing  can  stop  a  song  of  his."  There  was 
none  who  did  not  know  his  "  Woodman,  Spare  That 
Tree,"  "  My  Mother's  Bible,"  "  We  Were  Boys  To 
gether,"  "  I  Have  Never  Been  False  to  Thee,"  and  a 
host  more.  His  "  I  Love  the  Night "  needs  no  red- 
sashed  troubadours  with  their  guitars  under  the  latticed 
window  for  its  accompaniment.  It  sings  itself: — 

"  I  love  the  night  when  the  moon  streams  bright 

On  flowers  that  drink  the  dew; 
When  cascades  shout  as  the  stars  peep  out 

From  boundless  fields  of  blue ; 
But  dearer  far  than  moon  or  star, 

Or  flowers  of  gaudy  hue, 
Or  murmuring  trills  of  mountain  rills  — 

I  love,  I  love  —  love  you." 

Thomas  Dunn  English  wrote  thousands  of  poems, 
two  or  three  score  plays,  and  a  respectable  number  of 
stories  and  novels,  but  his  reputation  was  made  by  his 
very  moving  ballad,  "  Ben  Bolt,"  beginning  — 

Si  Don't  you  remember  sweet  Alice,  Ben  Bolt, 

Sweet  Alice,  whose  hair  was  so  brown, 
Who  wept  with  delight  when  you  gave  her  a  smile 

And  trembled  with  fear  at  your  frown  ? 
In  the  old  churchyard  in  the  valley,  Ben  Bolt, 

In  a  corner,  obscure  and  alone, 


294  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

They  have  fitted  a  slab  of  the  granite  so  gray 
And  Alice  lies  under  the  stone." 

English  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in  1819  of  an  Irish 
family  which  arrived  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  in 
William  Penn's  time.  He  was  destined  for  the  bar, 
but  his  father  having  failed  in  business,  he  early  became 
a  newspaper  writer.  In  1839  he  graduated  in  medicine 
from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  later  studied 
law,  but  his  absorption  in  journalism  and  politics  pre 
vented  him  from  making  a  success  of  either  profession. 
He  wrote  for  "  Burton's "  and  "  Graham's,"  a  half 
dozen  newspapers,  and  edited  or  helped  to  edit  some  ill- 
starred  comic  periodicals.  Many  of  his  earliest  poems 
appeared  in  "  Burton's  "  while  he  was  at  Blockley  Hos 
pital  and  in  1843  n^s  reputation  was  made  by  the  poem 
which  he  dedicated  to  his  friend,  Charles  Benjamin  Bolt. 
It  was  written,  at  N.  P.  Willis's  request,  for  the  New 
York  "  Mirror,"  lately  revived  as  the  "  New  Mirror," 
and  in  the  greatest  haste,  as  was  everything  that  issued 
from  his  pen.  It  caught  the  popular  fancy,  and  when 
set  to  music,  as  it  soon  was,  became  known  all  over 
the  world  wherever  English  was  spoken  or  under 
stood.  Ben  Bolt  became  the  name  of  a  ship,  a  steam 
boat  and  a  race  horse.  "  The  ship  was  wrecked," 
English  used  to  relate,  "  the  steamboat  was  blown  up 
and  the  horse  turned  out  to  be  a  *  plater  '  and  never  won 
anything."  The  plaintive  melody  was  introduced  to  a 
generation  to  whom  it  was  strange  by  Trilby  in  Du 
Maurier's  novel  which  somehow  struck  the  fancy  of  the 
people,  as  the  song  itself  had  captivated  them  fifty  years 
before.  The  University  of  Pennsylvania,  proud  to 
honor  Mr.  English  as  a  graduate,  warmly  received  him 


FABLES     IN      RHYME 


FROM    THB    POLISH    OF    ARCH  DISH  OP    KRASUCKL 


01      THOMAB      DOW*      BMOLISU,     tf  .      0. 


TflE    RAM    AND    JACKASS. 


The  ass  complained,  in  moving  words, 

It  was  a  shame  and  sin 
To  cast  him  from  the  stable  out 

And  let  the  ram  within; 
But,  while  the  loudest  were  his  moans, 
Thus  spake  the  ram  in  bitter  tones : 


«  Be  quiet,  pray,  my  long-cared  friend. 

With  anger  be  less  rife, 
A  butcher's  standing  by  my  side 

With  ready-sharpened  knife. 
Comfort  yourself  with  this  conceit, 
(•Ma'nkind  will  not  cat  jackass-meat.'  " 


THE    STANDISH    AND    THE    PEN. 


Belwfvl  (Tic  sfandiJi  nml  (he  pen 

A  dreadful  (jnairct  rose, 
Which  came  to  words  of  bitter  kind, 

Black  looks,  and  almost  blown, 
As  to  which  penned  a  certain- fable 
That  lay  just  written  on  the  table. 


Its  author  in  the  meanwhile  came 

The  library  within, 
And,  finding  out  the  cause  of  this 

Mbst  sad  and  dang'rous  din,- 
Exclaimed,  "  How  many  bards  at  war 
Just  like  this  pen  and  Mandish  arc  1" 


THE    DOG    AND    HIS    MASTER, 


A  certain  dog,  of  watchful  kind, 

To  scare  the  thief  away, 
Barked  from  the  selling  of  the  sun 

Until  the  dawn  of  day. 
His  master,  at  the  morning  light, 
Flogged  him  for  barking  thus  all  night. 


Next  night  the  dog  in  kennel  slept 

Sound,  with  prodigious  snore, 
The  thief  broke  in,  and,  seizing  all, 

Made  exit  by  the  door. 
When  morning  came  they  flogged  the  brute, 
Because  the  lazy  dog  was  mute. 


THE    LAZY    OXEN. 


The  fir»t  commission  of  an  III 

Delightful  is,  no  less; 
'Tig  In  the  effects  it  brings  about 

That  lies  the  bitterness. 
A§  easily  is  proven  by 
This  most  veiacious  history. 


In  spring  the  oxen  all  refused 

To  plough  the  grassy  plain ; 
When  autumn  came  they  would  not  haul 

From  out  the  fields  the  giain. 
In  winter,  being  scarce  of  bread, 
They  knocked  the  oxen  on  the  hood. 


A  PAGE  OF  ENGLISH'S  VERSE  FROM  THE  "  GENTLEMAN'S  MAGAZINE 


296  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

at  the  meetings  of  the  alumni,  which  accompany  the 
Commencement  season,  in  1899,  sixty  years  after  he  had 
taken  his  degree  in  its  medical  school. 

English  removed  to  New  York  in  time  to  be  included 
in  Poe's  serial  critique  of  New  York's  "  literati  "  in 
"  Godey's  Lady's  Book"  in  1846,  and  the  passage  at 
arms  between  the  two  men  was  the  most  exciting  which 
had  been  witnessed  since  Cobbett's  famous  assault  upon 
Dr.  Rush.  Poe  was  right  in  adjudging  English  no  very 
important  literary  figure,  but  he  was  unnecessarily  se 
vere,  as  he  was  wont  to  be  in  the  presence  of  mediocrity. 
"  No  spectacle  can  be  more  pitiable,"  said  Poe  in  "  Go 
dey's,"  "  than  that  of  a  man  without  the  commonest 
school  education  busying  himself  in  attempts  to  instruct 
mankind  on  topics  of  polite  literature."  His  grammar 
was  defective.  He  wrote  "  lay "  for  "  lie,"  and  in 
general  needed  "  private  instruction,"  for  getting  which, 
Poe  explained  "  no  one  of  any  generosity  would  think 
the  worse  of  him."  The  Irish  in  English  rising,  he  re 
fused  to  rest  quietly  under  such  imputations  and  re 
sponded,  through  a  New  York  newspaper,  with  attacks 
on  his  critic's  moral  character.  Poe  made  a  rejoinder 
through  Neal's  "  Saturday  Gazette  "  in  Philadelphia. 
He  called  English  "  Thomas  Dunn  Brown,"  and  the 
author  of  "  Ben  Bolt "  in  truth  was  "  done  "  so 
"  brown  "  that  he  must  have  regretted  ever  having 
offered  himself  for  a  baking  at  the  hands  of  such  an 
artist  in  cookery.  Poe  sued  for  damages  and  got  an 
award  of  $225,  with  the  costs  charged  to  his  defamers, 
in  February,  1847. 

Many  of  English's  defects,  as  Poe  said,  were  attrib 
utable  to  his  sparing  education,  but  these  might  have 
been  corrected  if  he  had  shown  the  ability  and  patience 


"THE  BATTLE  OF  GERMANTOWNJ 

From    "Graham's   Magazine" 


'A    PICNIC    ON    THE    WISSAHICKON 

From   "Graham's  Magazine" 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  297 

to  work  more  carefully.  With  the  journalist's  train 
ing  and  heedless  instincts  as  a  writer,  he  would  produce 
three  or  four  poems  at  a  single  sitting,  and  "  The  Mor 
mons,"  perhaps  his  most  successful  play,  occupied  him 
for  but  three  days  and  nights.  It  is  not  surprising, 
therefore,  that  his  work,  large  in  volume  and  variety  as 
it  was,  is  of  no  enduring  importance. 

English  had  entered  politics  before  he  was  twenty- 
five  years  old,  warmly  advocating  the  annexation  of 
Texas.  For  a  while  in  the  fifties  he  resided  in  Virginia. 
During  the  Civil  War  he  was  a  member  of  the  legisla 
ture  of  New  Jersey,  and  early  in  the  nineties,  when  he 
had  passed  seventy,  being  then  a  resident  of  Newark, 
he  was  elected  to  Congress,  where  he  was  an  interesting 
figure  for  two  or  three  terms.  He  died  in  1902. 

The  prominent  position  occupied  by  Philadelphia  in 
the  publishing  trade  and  the  variety  and  number  of  its 
magazines,  brought  to  the  city  a  curious  critical  autocrat, 
Rufus  Wilmot  Griswold.  He  was  born  in  Vermont, 
in  1815,  and  studied  for  the  Baptist  ministry.  He 
preached  long  enough  to  become  a  doctor  of  divinity 
and  obtain  the  title  to  be  called  "  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Griswold  "  by  Lowell,  Poe  and  many  who  held  his  lit 
erary  wisdom  in  contempt,  which  none  of  them  con 
cealed  and  upon  which  this  would-be  Jeffrey  of  Amer 
ica  apparently  throve.  Abandoning  the  church,  he 
travelled  extensively  in  the  American  interior  and  in 
Europe,  and  then  turned  his  attention  to  newspaper, 
magazine  and  book  writing.  He  had  prejudices  that 
nothing  could  subdue  and  enjoyed  contention;  but  with 
all  his  bigotry  as  a  critic,  for  it  must  be  called  that,  he 
had  a  knowledge  of  the  history  of  American  literature 
which  was  perhaps  unsurpassed  by  that  of  any  student 


298  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

who  preceded  Moses  Colt  Tyler.  "  He  has  more  liter 
ary  patriotism,  if  the  phrase  be  allowable,"  said  an  ad 
mirer  in  "  Graham's,"  "  than  any  person  we  ever  knew. 
Since  the  Pilgrims  landed  no  man  or  woman  has  written 
anything  on  any  subject  which  has  escaped  his  untiring 
research." 

Griswold  resided  in  Philadelphia  for  a  few  years  in 
the  forties,  editing  the  "  Saturday  Evening  Post,"  and 
afterward  taking  Poe's  desk  for  several  months  in  the 
editorial  office  of  "  Graham's  Magazine."  Two  men 
more  different  in  temperament,  outlook  and  method  of 
life  are  rarely  found,  which  is  the  explanation  of  the 
criticism  and  censure  that  Griswold  passed  upon  Poe 
almost  before  the  grave  had  closed  over  him,  creating  a 
real  cause  celebre  in  the  annals  of  literature  in  America. 
The  echoes  of  the  contest  between  Griswold  and  Poe's 
friends  are  still  heard,  and  that  he  was  a  calumniator 
who  deliberately  sat  down  to  write  the  poet's  biography 
in  an  ugly  spirit,  is  not  anywhere  denied.  Griswold  in 
dustriously  criticized  and  compiled  extracts  from  the 
works  of  most  of  the  writers  of  America,  many  of  his 
books  having  been  published  by  Carey  and  Hart  in  Phil 
adelphia  ;  but  he  left  the  city  after  no  very  long  residence 
in  it  and  continued  his  literary  career  in  Boston  and  New 
York. 

"  The  Reverend  Mr.  Griswold  is  an  ass  and,  what's 
more,  a  knave,"  Lowell  said  one  time  when  he  was 
stung  by  some  criticism  of  Poe.  Graham  declared  in 
his  magazine,  in  his  open  letter  to  Willis,  that  Gris- 
wold's  attack  was  "  dastardly,"  as  well  as  "  false."  For 
three  or  four  years  Graham  said  he  had  known  Poe  in 
timately  and  for  eighteen  months  saw  him  almost  daily, 
writing  and  conversing  with  him  at  the  same  desk.  In 


7**' 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  299 

that  time  he  had  found  much  to  admire  in  him  and  he 
now  testified  in  the  poet's  behalf  most  willingly.  He 
dwelt  upon  Poe's  deep  attachment  for  his  wife  and  Mrs. 
Clemm,  to  whom  all  the  money  that  Mr.  Graham  paid 
him  was  taken  regularly.  "  His  love  for  his  wife  was 
a  sort  of  rapturous  worship  of  the  spirit  of  beauty 
which  he  felt  was  fading  before  his  eyes,"  said  Graham. 
"  I  have  seen  him  hovering  around  her  when  she  was 
ill,  with  all  the  fond  fear  and  tender  anxiety  of  a  mother 
for  her  first-born,  her  slightest  cough  causing  in  him  a 
shudder,  a  heart  chill  that  was  visible.  I  rode  out  one 
summer  evening  with  them,  and  the  remembrance  of 
his  watchful  eyes  eagerly  bent  upon  the  slightest  change 
of  hue  in  that  loved  face  haunts  me  yet  as  the  memory 
of  a  sad  strain.  It  was  this  hourly  anticipation  of  her 
loss  that  made  him  a  sad  and  thoughtful  man  and  lent 
a  mournful  melody  to  his  undying  song." 

Later  there  came  a  note  of  morbidness  induced  by  his 
inability  to  do  for  her — "a  consciousness  of  the  in 
equalities  of  life  and  of  the  abundant  power  of  mere 
wealth,  allied  even  to  vulgarity,  to  override  all  distinc 
tions  and  to  thrust  itself  bedaubed  with  dirt  and  glitter 
ing  with  tinsel  into  the  high  places  of  society  and  the 
chief  seats  of  the  synagogue." 

"  Could  he  have  stepped  down  and  chronicled  small 
beer,"  Graham  continued,  "  made  himself  the  shifting 
toady  of  the  hour,  and  with  bow  and  cringe  hung  upon 
the  steps  of  greatness,  sounding  the  glory  of  third-rate 
ability  with  a  penny  trumpet,  he  would  have  been  feted 
alive  and  perhaps  been  praised  when  dead."  Graham's 
testimony  was  not  needed  to  convince  the  world  that 
Poe  was  not  of  this  mould ;  but  his  statement  was  very 
useful  in  controverting  Griswold's  malignant  assertions, 


3oo  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

• 

since  it  came  from  one  who,  like  Mayne  Reid,  was  en 
titled  to  a  respectful  hearing  in  this  unpleasant  dispute. 

Three  Philadelphia  poets  in  Graham's  galaxy,  Willis 
Gaylord  Clark,  Robert  Morris  and  Henry  B.  Hirst,  all 
of  whom  Poe  admired,  do  not  loom  as  large  upon  the 
literary  horizon  as  they  should,  if  their  work  were  better 
known.  The  first  two  left  the  world  all  too  little  for 
it  to  judge  them  by,  while  Hirst's  genius  was  clouded  in 
his  last  years,  and,  although  his  youthful  output  was 
considerable,  his  memory  was  marred  by  his  misfor 
tunes  and  dissipations. 

Willis  Gaylord  Clark  was  the  brother  of  Lewis  Gay- 
lord  Clark,  long  the  editor  of  the  u  Knickerbockei 
Magazine."  A  native  of  New  York  State,  he  came  to 
Philadelphia  when  a  young  man  and  was  connected  with 
a  number  of  literary  papers.  He  died  of  consumption 
soon  after  "  Graham's"  was  founded,  and  when  little 
past  thirty  years  of  age,  being  buried  at  his  parting  de 
sire  beside  his  wife  at  the  same  hour  of  the  day  at 
which  she  was  interred.  An  "  Impromptu  "  entitled 
41  Sabbath  Bells  "  in  "  Graham's  Magazine  "  gives  an 
indication  of  the  ground  Poe  had  for  his  admiration  of 
Clark.  The  poem  begins :  — 

"  Sweet  Sabbath !     To  my  ear 

Thy  bells  with  mingling  tone 
Tell  of  the  distant  and  the  dear 
In  yon  far  blue  unknown. 

"  Of  happier  days  they  tell, 

When  o'er  the  vernal  ground, 
Fairer  than  Ocean's  richest  shell, 
Young  Nature  breathed  around. 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  301 

"  When  Hope,  as  at  a  shrine, 
To  Fancy  poured  her  lay, 
And  hues,  inspiring  and  divine, 
Painted  the  live-long  day." 

This  is  not  very  consequential,  but  in  all  that  Clark 
wrote,  there  is,  as  Poe  said  in  "  Graham's,"  u  a  deep 
abiding  sense  of  religion,"  he  being,  indeed,  "  almost 
the  first  poet  to  render  the  poetry  of  religion  attractive." 
He  was  given  distinction  "  for  his  grace  and  euphony." 
"  The  rank  to  which  he  belonged,"  said  his  appreciative 
judge,  "  was  not  the  highest  but  in  that  rank  he  occu 
pied  one  of  the  foremost  stations." 

His  friend,  Robert  Morris,  had  much  the  same 
character  as  a  poet,  writing  in  "  The  Christmas  Dream 
of  the  Future,"  rather  casually  to  select  but  one  extract 
from  a  single  poem  from  this  graceful  muse :  — 

"  How  brief  our  earthly  span!     Youth,  Manhood,  Age, 
We  creep  —  we  walk  —  we  totter  off  life's  stage. 

How  quick  yon  star  shoots  down  the  illumined  sky  — 
'Tis  gone!  and  yet  we  see  not  where  on  high 
Its  bright  lamp  shone !     'Tis  thus  with  feeble  man  — 
He  twinkles  here  a  moment,  and  is  gone! 
On  rolls  the  world  !     Each  evanescent  year 
Bears  on  its  current  to  some  distant  sphere 
Myriads  of  mortal  forms  —  vain  things  of  time, 
Youth  in  its  hour  of  hope  —  and  manhood's  prime  — 
Beauty  and  all  its  fading  hues  of  clay, 
The  tints  that  are  net,  but  were  yesterday!  " 

Robert  Morris  was  not  a  descendant  of  the  Financier 
of  the  Revolution,  as  his  name  might  indicate,  but  of  a 
Welsh  sea-captain  who,  being  in  command  of  an  armed 


302  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

vessel  in  the  War  of  1812,  was  captured  and  confined 
in  an  English  prison,  later  dying  in  France.  For  a  num 
ber  of  years  the  poet  was  the  editor  of  the  Philadelphia 
"  Inquirer,"  for  which,  in  addition  to  his  political  ar 
ticles,  he  wrote  a  series  of  weekly  essays  in  the  manner 
of  the  "  Spectator." 

Henry  Beck  Hirst  was  a  poet  of  large  natural  pro 
portions  and  it  was  a  real  misfortune  to  letters  that 
his  muse  yielded  fruit  for  but  a  few  years  in  his  youth. 
He  was  one  of  the  group  of  young  literary  men  who 
used  to  gather  with  Poe  at  Thomas  Cottrell  ClarkeTs 
house  at  Twelfth  and  Walnut  Streets.  Hirst  was  an 
amorous  fellow  who  drank  absinthe  at  a  ruinous  rate, 
and  he  and  his  associates  would  often  tap  on  the  pane 
of  the  window  of  the  basement  room  in  which  Clarke 
worked,  the  signal  for  an  evening  frolic.  Poe  accused 
Thomas  Dunn  English  of  having  got  all  the  good  there 
was  in  him  from  Hirst,  which  did  not  leave  the  victim 
of  the  piracies  barren  of  poetical  thoughts,  or  the  ability 
to  express  them  gracefully  and  musically.  Hirst  on  his 
side  was  obviously  influenced  by  Poe  and  more  than  one 
of  his  poems  is  suggestive  of  the  intimacy  and  com 
munion  of  the  two  poets.  Listen  for  example  to  one 
of  Hirst's  early  productions,  "  Eleanore  " : — 

"  When  I  came  of  old,  thy  glance, 

Eleanore, 
Seemed  with  loving  light  to  dance, 

Eleanore ; 

But  thy  glances  now  are  ever 
Far  the  brighter  when  we  sever, 

Eleanore. 


•BBH 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  303 

"  I  am  lone  without  thy  love, 

Eleanore, 
And  my  life  with  grief  is  wove, 

Eleanore ; 

While  the  scorn  thy  glances  dart 
Make  a  winter  in  my  heart, 

Eleanore." 

Or  hear  this  from  "  To  a  Ruined  Fountain  ": — 

"  In  a  green  Arcadian  valley, 

Grey  with  lichen,  overgrown; 
Where  the  blandest  breezes  dally, 
Chaunting,   ever  musically, 

Roundelays  with  silvery  tone, 
Stands  a  mossy  fountain,  broken, 
Of  the  ancient  day  a  token. 

"  On  the  ground  beneath  it,  sleeping, 
Lies  some  quaintly  sculptured  god, 

O'er  the  scene  no  vigil  keeping; 

While  the  willow  on  it  weeping 
Trails  its  leaves  along  the  sod, 

And  the  ivy  climbs  beside  it 

Seeking  from  the  sight  to  hide  it." 

His  "  Endymion,"  which  Willis  accused  him  of  hav 
ing  written  "  after  Keats,"  a  charge  that  he  vigorously 
resented  with  the  statement  that  he  had  not  read  Keats's 
poem  founded  on  the  same  classical  legend  until  after 
finishing  his  own,  is  his  longest  work.  It  is  in  four 
cantos  and  it  contains  much  that  is  of  striking  beauty 
and  charm.  These  are  two  of  the  stanzas: — 

"  Yet  he  was  faint  —  faint  with  fatigue  and  drooping, 
Through  the  long  day  unwearied  he  had  kept 
Watch,  while  his  cattle  slept ; 


304  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

And  now  the  sun  was  like  a  falcon,  stooping 

Down  the  red  west,  and  night  from  out  her  cave 
Walked,  Christ-like,  o'er  the  wave. 

"  And  from  the  south  —  the  yellow  south,  all  glowing 
With  blandest  beauty,  came  a  gentle  breeze, 

Murmuring  o'er  sleeping  seas, 
Which,  bearing  dewy  damps  and  lightly  flowing 
Athwart  his  brow,  cooled  his  hot  brain  and  stole 
Like  nectar  to  his  soul." 

All  of  Hirst's  works  were  published  in  Boston  and  be 
fore  1850.  His  first  volume,  "The  Coming  of  the 
Mammoth,  The  Funeral  of  Time,  and  Other  Poems, " 
appeared  in  1845;  his  "  Endymion,  a  Tale  of  Greece  " 
followed  in  1848,  and  'The  Penance  of  Roland, 
and  Other  Poems"  in  1849.  He  had  studied  law 
and  was  admitted  to  the  Philadelphia  bar  in  1843, 
when  he  was  thirty  years  of  age.  With  dissipated 
habits,  ,Hirst  is  said  to  have  coupled  inordinate  self-es 
teem,  which  later  developed  into  insanity.  For  a  long 
time  he  was  allowed  to  go  about  the  streets  in  strange 
habiliments,  imagining  himself  by  turns  the  President 
of  the  United  States  and  the  various  emperors,  kings, 
and  queens  of  Europe.  He  was  finally  placed  in  the 
insane  department  of  the  Blockley  Almshouse.  At  first 
he  believed  himself  in  the  moon  or  in  Japan,  but  later 
he  seemed  to  understand  his  true  situation  and  a  friend 
who  visited  him  believed  him  convalescent,  until,  ap 
proaching  him,  Hirst  gravely  explained  that  his  name 
was  Beauregard,  "  the  grandson  of  the  stars  and  the 
eldest  child  of  the  late  Comet,  Christianized  and  heir 
to  the  throne  of  Morocco,"  etc.  He  died  in  1874  at 
the  age  of  sixty.  Such  was  the  miserable  end  of  a 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  305 

great  American  poet,  some  of  whose  work  entitles  him 
to  place  beside  the  best  writers  of  English  verse. 

Catherine  H.  Waterman  of  Philadelphia,  who  in 
1840  became  the  wife  of  a  sea  captain,  C.  H.  W. 
Esling,  with  whom  she  lived  for  some  years  in  Brazil, 
was  a  very  prolific  writer  of  hymns  and  of  verse  which 
appeared  in  "  Graham's/'  u  Godey's  "  and  all  the  Phila 
delphia  magazines  of  the  day.  Poe  speaks  of  the  "  ten 
derness  and  melody  "  of  her  short  poems  but  with  reser 
vation,  some  of  his  praise  emanating  no  doubt  from  the 
chivalric  feeling  with  which  he  always  attacked  the 
work  of  lady  writers.  To  banish  all  gallantry,  it  must 
be  said  that  there  was  never  great  value  in  Miss  Water 
man's  or  Mrs.  Esling's  verse.  Perhaps  there  is  as 
much  in  these  lines  from  a  poem  entitled  "  We  Meet 
No  More,"  published  in  the  "  Gentleman's  "  for  1839, 
as  we  need  expect  to  find  in  any  part  of  her  work: — 

"  We  meet  not  there  —  there,  where  we  sadly  parted 

In  days  of  yore  — 

There,  at  the  tryst  place  of  the  trusting-hearted 
We  meet  no  more. 

"  We  meet  no  more  —  for  long,  long  years  have  changed  thee, 

And  other  skies 

From  the  sweet  haunts  of  earlier  joys  estranged  thee 
And  nearer  ties." 

Walter  Colton,  while  better  known  for  his  works  of 
travel  than  for  his  poetry,  occasionally  contributed  verse 
to  the  Philadelphia  magazines.  Born  in  Vermont,  he 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1822,  and  afterward  studied  the 
ology.  While  editing  a  newspaper  in  Washington,  he 
won  the  admiration  of  President  Jackson  who  appointed 
him  a  chaplain  in  the  Navy.  After  extensive  travels  in 


306  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

the  service,  in  1838  he  was  assigned  to  the  Philadelphia 
station,  where  he  wrote  much  for  the  newspapers  and 
magazines.  In  1845  he  was  ordered  to  accompany  a 
squadron  to  California  and  was  an  important  factor 
there  in  a  wild  and  uncivilized  era.  In  the  midst  of  the 
gold-mining  excitement  he  returned  to  Philadelphia, 
and  died  in  1851  to  be  buried  in  Laurel  Hill. 

Now  and  again  the  name  of  Frances  Kemble  Butler 
appears  upon  the  covers  of  the  Philadelphia  magazines, 
and  it  is  thus  that  readers  are  introduced  to  Fanny 
Kemble.  She  had  lately  left  the  stage,  where  she  was 
nightly  a  popular  success,  to  become  the  wife  of  Pierce 
(Mease)  Butler,  a  Southern  planter,  who  had  an  estate 
near  the  city.  He  was  the  grandson  of  Major  Pierce 
Butler,  the  old  senator  from  South  Carolina,  who 
resided  in  Philadelphia  much  of  his  time,  even  while 
in  the  Senate  as  a  South  Carolinian.  Miss  Kemble  had 
won  practically  instantaneous  triumphs  on  the  English 
stage  and  came  to  the  United  States  with  her  father, 
Charles  Kemble,  in  1832,  when  she  was  still  but  twenty- 
three  years  old.  They  played  in  all  the  principal  cities 
and  her  black  hair,  flashing  eyes  and  lithe  young  figure, 
while  they  captivated  all  people  were  particularly  ruin 
ous  to  Mr.  Butler's  peace  of  mind.  That  he  might  be 
always  near  her,  he  followed  Miss  Kemble  from  city  to 
city,  she  looking  down  upon  him  sometimes  in  the  audi 
ence  and  often  in  the  orchestra  pit  where  he  served  as  a 
musician.  They  were  married  in  Philadelphia  in  June, 
1834,  and  such  a  romantic  attachment  should  have  led 
to  an  enduring  happiness  that  neither  Mrs.  Butler  nor 
her  husband  seems  to  have  enjoyed.  The  young  couple 
resided  on  the  Butler  estate  on  the  Old  York  Road,  near 
the  city,  spending  a  winter  or  two  on  the  ancestral  plan- 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  307 

tations  in  the  islands  of  the  Altamaha  River  on  the  coast 
of  Georgia. 

Here  Miss  Kemble  suffered  all  the  agonies  of  heart 
and  conscience  of  a  Lucretia  Mott  or  a  Mrs.  Stowe. 
Slavery  wounded  her  to  the  soul.  The  Butlers,  judging 
from  her  journal  of  her  residence  in  Georgia,  were 
brutal  slave-drivers,  and  her  denunciation  of  the  system 
and  her  husband's  indisposition  to  humor  her  whims  as 
a  reformer,  with  other  differences,  led  to  their  complete 
estrangement.  For  a  young  woman  of  Miss  Kemble's 
independent  spirit,  with  her  English  training  and  the 
remembrance  of  her  popular  successes  on  two  continents, 
the  centipedes,  alligators,  black  snakes,  and  the  plead 
ings  of  maltreated  human  beings  were  too  much  to  be 
borne  patiently.  In  1846  she  left  her  husband's  home 
and  two  years  later  Mr.  Butler  sued  for  and  procured 
a  divorce  on  the  ground  of  abandonment  and  incompati 
bility  of  temper.  Although  never  returning  to  the 
stage,  she  gave  Shakespearean  readings  in  Philadel 
phia  and  many  other  cities.  She  lived  in  Massachu 
setts  and  England  and  after  Mr.  Butler's  death,  which 
occurred  in  1867,  returned  to  Philadelphia  again  to 
make  her  home  in  the  city  for  a  few  years.  She  wrote 
plays,  poems  and  animated  prose,  chiefly  the  journals  of 
her  life,  being,  when  all  things  are  considered,  one  of  the 
most  interesting  of  the  members  of  that  large  group  of 
literary  people  whose  names  are  associated  with  the 
city's  history. 

Thomas  Mayne  Reid,  who  knew  Poe  so  closely  while 
he  was  in  Philadelphia,  although  of  Scotch  blood  on 
both  sides,  was  born  in  Ireland,  where  his  father  was  a 
Presbyterian  minister.  He  had  come  to  America  at 
twenty,  landing  at  New  Orleans  to  hunt,  trade,  explore, 


308  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

and  live  a  life  of  general  adventure,  interspersed  with 
what  would  rightly  be  called  daredeviltry,  on  the  Red, 
the  Missouri  and  the  Platte  Rivers,  being  accompanied 
on  one  journey  by  Audubon,  whom  he  met  in  the  wilder 
ness.  Settling  in  Philadelphia  in  1843,  tne  city  was 
Reid's  home  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Mexican  War. 
Here  he  strove  to  live  by  his  pen,  writing  both  prose  and 
verse  for  "  Graham's  "  and  "  Godey's,"  and  a  tragedy 
which  was  performed  by  James  William  Wallack  at 
the  Walnut  Street  Theatre.  It  is  hard  to  conceive  of 
any  reason  for  the  publication  of  his  verse,  but  it  was 
published.  Stanzas  entitled  "  Another  Heart  Broken," 
are  curiosities  in  the  annals  of  the  author's  life  as  they 
are  in  the  history  of  magazine  literature  in  America. 
Thus  did  he  begin  this  "  poem  "  : — 

"  Oh,  vainly  I'm  weeping;  he  thinks  not  of  me, 

And  little  he  recks  of  the  grief  that  consumes  me  — 
Unspoken  and  silent  my  sorrow  shall  be ; 

He  shall  not  know  the  cause  of  the  anguish  that  dooms  me." 

In  1846  Reid  donned  the  American  uniform  and 
marched  into  Mexico,  being  at  the  head  of  his  column 
at  the  storming  of  the  castle  of  Chapultepec,  where  he 
was  badly  wounded.  For  some  time  he  was  mourned 
for  dead  and  his  pagans  as  a  writer  and  a  soldier  were 
sung  in  the  newspapers.  He  came  to  life  again,  how 
ever,  like  the  heroes  of  his  stories,  returned  for  a  time 
to  Philadelphia,  now  a  Captain,  and  in  1849  raised  a 
company  of  volunteers  in  New  York  to  go  to  Hungary 
and  help  Kossuth  in  his  war  of  freedom.  The  insur 
rection  collapsed  before  he  had  got  farther  than  Paris 
and  Captain  Mayne  Reid,  as  he  was  always  afterward 
known,  now  settled  in  England,  to  produce  that  series 


GRAHAM'S  AND  ITS  GROUP  309 

of  thrilling  tales  with  which  his  name  is  so  closely  as 
sociated.  His  adventures  in  this  country  supplied  him 
with  the  material  for  a  score  of  books  that  have  de 
lighted  several  generations  of  boys. 


CHAPTER  IX 

"  BLACK    LETTERS " 

The  strife  between  the  sections  over  the  slavery  ques 
tion  profoundly  influenced  literary  activity  in  Philadel 
phia,  just  as  the  Revolution  had  stirred  our  writers, 
inspiring  voices  that  otherwise  might  have  been  silent 
and  giving  a  common  tune  to  every  lay.  Whatever  the 
advantages  of  war  are  accounted  to  be  by  those  who 
find  it  fashionable  to  defend  it  as  a  means  of  improving 
the  national  character,  it  is  demonstrably  a  small  influ 
ence  to  make  letters  what  in  Joseph  Dennie's  time  would 
have  been  called  "  polite."  The  angering  of  man 
against  man  meant  a  return  to  controversial  writing, 
and  Philadelphia  for  a  few  decades,  as  in  the  Revolu 
tion,  was  the  principal  battle-ground  for  conflicting 
ideas,  sentiments  and  opinions.  Perhaps  it  is  not 
strange  that  "  Godey's  "  and  "  Graham's  "  should  con 
fess  some  disgust  with  the  new  literary  monotone.  In 
1850  Godey  announced  that  he  would  drop  "Grace 
Greenwood  "  from  the  list  of  contributors  to  his  maga 
zine  because  of  her  Abolition  sympathies,  whereupon, 
the  publisher  having  presented  a  portrait  of  himself  in 
his  "  Lady's  Book,"  Whittier  addressed  a  poem  to 
his 

11  moony  breadth  of  virgin  face 
By   thought   unviolated." 

The  Abolition  poet  continued : — 

310 


BLACK  LETTERS  311 

"  Thou  saw'st  beneath  a  fair  disguise 

The  danger  darkly  lurking, 
And  maiden  bodice,  dreaded  more 

Than  warrior's  steel-wrought  jerkin. 
How  keen  to  scent  the  hidden  plot ! 

How  prompt  wert  thou  to  balk  it! 
With  patriot  zeal  and  peddler  thrift 

For  country  and  for  pocket." 

"  Graham's  "  said  in  its  famous  article  on  "  Black 
Letters  "  in  reviewing  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  " : — 

"  A  plague  of  all  black  faces!  We  hate  this  nigger- 
ism  and  hope  it  may  be  done  away  with.  We  cannot 
tolerate  negro  slavery  of  this  sort  —  we  are  Abolition 
ists  on  this  question.  In  the  name  of  the  prophet  —  not 
the  bookseller's  profit  —  let  us  have  done  with  this 
wooly-headed  literature ;  let  us  have  change ;  let  us  have 
a  reaction.  Let  us  go  back  to  our  original  Mexican 
brigands,  our  fresh  Texans  with  their  big  beards  and 
unerring  '  Beeswings,'  our  prairie  heroines,  and  all  that 
wonderful  adventure  which  is  only  sunburnt  at  the  deep 
est.  Let  us  have  the  breathless  *  Romance  of  the 
Lowell  Factory  Girl,'  the  thrilling  '  Pirate  of  the 
Chesapeake,'  the  '  Mystery  of  the  Modern  Gomorrah/ 

*  The    Dark    Monk    of   Wissawamponoag.'     We    are 
really  weary  of  preaching  negroes  and  '  Mas'r,'   and 

*  'spects  I'se  wicked,'  and  '  that  yer  ole  man,'  and  *  dat 
ar  nigger!'  ' 

Philadelphia  seems  to  be  without  much  responsibility 
for  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  although  there  are  rumors 
of  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  "  coming  here  to  publishers 
who  would  have  none  of  it  because  of  its  assaults  upon 
the  South.* 

*"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  "  was  finally  issued  as  a  book,  after  it  had 
come  out   serially  in   the  Washington   "  National  Era,"   by  J.    P. 


3ia  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

Miss  Beecher  passed  through  the  city  with  the  fam 
ily  in  1832  when  her  father,  Lyman  Beecher,  was 
making  his  way  from  Boston  to  take  the  presi 
dency  of  Lane  Theological  Seminary  in  Cincinnati. 
They  begged  for  the  school,  as  they  went,  but  did  not 
very  well  succeed  "  in  opening  purses  "  in  Philadelphia. 
They  traveled  out  the  Lancaster  turnpike,  singing 
4  Jubilee  "  as  the  wagon  jolted  them  on  to  Ohio,  and 
distributing  tracts  along  the  way,  "  peppering  the 
land  with  moral  influence,"  said  Harriet  with  that  hap 
py  faculty  which  characterized  her  even  as  a  girl. 

The  patient,  untiring,  inflexible  advocates  of  liberty 
for  the  negro  were  the  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania.  They 
took  no  glory  to  themselves  for  the  service.  They  pro 
duced  no  Mrs.  Stowe,  or  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  or 
Wendell  Phillips;  they  worked  in  quieter  ways  and  used 
few  of  the  world's  weapons.  But  their  consciences 
were  fixed;  they  feared  no  human  being,  though  they 
bore  no  arms,  and  defied  public  opinion,  laws  and  gov 
ernments  in  their  contest  with  slavery.  It  was  a  haz 
ardous  business  to  bring  fugitive  slaves  northward 
through  the  city,  but  some  of  the  principal  lines  of  the 
Underground  Railroad  touched  its  outskirts.  Many  a 
Quaker,  night  after  night,  and  year  after  year,  slept 
with  one  ear  open  for  the  sound  of  the  wagon  which 
would  bring  him,  under  cover  of  night,  a  load  of  slaves 
ambitious  to  enjoy  the  sweets  of  freedom  in  Canada. 
Many  a  Quaker  matron  and  maid  cooked  and  sewed 
for  the  blacks  that  came  to  their  homes,  to  remain  un 
til  they  could  be  forwarded  to  the  next  station  where 
hearts  were  as  faithful  and  lips  as  discreet.  Through 

Jewett  of  Boston,  who  was  so  elated  with  his  success  that  he  went 
into  the  publishing  business  on  a  larger  scale,  promptly  meeting 
with  misfortune. 


BLACK  LETTERS  313 

the  rich  Quaker  counties  of  Chester  and  Bucks,  the 
negro  passed  constantly,  in  spite  of  Fugitive  Slave  Laws 
with  barbarous  penalties,  diligent  non-Quaker  con 
stables,  and  masters  with  whips  in  hand  who  not  infre 
quently  drove  over  the  border  from  Maryland  to  re 
cover  their  runaways  and  take  them  back  to  their  un 
requited  tasks.  There  are  many  still  to  tell  the  secrets 
of  that  time  and  to  recall  with  pride  that  they  are  sprung 
of  this  heroic  Quaker  stock. 

Pastorius,  Benjamin  Lay,  the  dwarf;  John  Woolman, 
Warner  Mifflin  and  Anthony  Benezet  were  Quaker 
leaders  who  denounced  the  evils  of  human  bondage, 
and  the  Society  of  Friends  itself  was  wrell  clear  of  mem 
bers  who  were  slave  owners.  The  pioneer  in  the  anti- 
slavery  movement,  which  now  swept  on  in  a  straight 
course  to  the  Civil  War,  was  Benjamin  Lundy.  This 
man  was  born  in  1789  in  Sussex  County,  N.  J.,  being  a 
descendant  of  a  Quaker  preacher  who  had  early  settled 
at  Buckingham  in  Bucks  County.  He  travelled  for  his 
health,  establishing  himself  at  length  as  a  saddler  at 
Wheeling,  Va.,  then  a  market-place  for  slaves  in  clank 
ing  chains.  The  thought  of  the  inhumanities  of  the 
traffic  disturbed  him,  and  after  he  had  moved  over  the 
border  to  follow  his  trade  in  Ohio,  he  formed  an  anti- 
slavery  society  which,  beginning  with  five  or  six,  soon 
had  five  hundred  members.  In  January,  1821,  he  es 
tablished  his  "  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation,"  the 
first  avowedly  anti-slavery  journal  in  the  country.  He 
continued  to  publish  this  paper  regularly  or  irregularly, 
as  time  and  place  favored  it,  for  nearly  eighteen  years, 
first  in  Mount  Pleasant,  O.,  then  in  Jonesborough, 
Tenn.,  and  afterward  successively  in  Baltimore,  Wash 
ington  and  Philadelphia.  His  profits  as  a  harness  and 


3H  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

saddle-maker  seem  to  have  been  lost  before  he  began  his 
career  as  a  journalist.  When  at  Mount  Pleasant  the 
"  G.  U.  E.,"  as  he  familiarly  called  the  "  Genius,"  was 
printed  in  Steubenville  and  he  made  the  twenty  miles 
to  and  from  that  place  on  foot,  often  carrying  the 
papers  on  his  back.  In  his  long  absences  on  his  mis 
sionary  tours,  it  must  be  written  and  printed  under  the 
most  serious  disadvantages,  for  Lundy  was  not  long  to 
be  satisfied  with  the  service  he  could  perform  at  his 
home,  even  with  the  aid  of  a  periodical.  In  1824  he 
made  his  first  appearance  as  an  anti-slavery  lecturer  in  a 
grove  beside  a  Friends'  Meeting  House  in  North  Caro 
lina.  He  was  a  pioneer  here  also,  the  first  of  a  host 
who  soon  found  voices  to  denounce  the  evils  of  slavery 
in  public  meetings.  Lundy  travelled  through  many 
Southern  states,  speaking  at  house-raisings,  militia-mus 
ters  and  wherever  he  could  find  an  audience.  His 
weapon  was  moral  suasion.  He  sought  to  create  pub 
lic  opinion  in  favor  of  manumission  and  the  colonization 
of  the  freedmen  in  Hayti,  Mexico  or  other  countries. 

At  first  he  was  received  rather  cordially  and  was  suc 
cessful  in  organizing  many  anti-slavery  societies  in  the 
South.  Indeed,  in  1827,  by  Lundy's  computation, 
there  were  in  the  United  States  no  less  than  130  anti- 
slavery  societies  with  6,625  members,  106  of  which 
were  in  slave-holding  states.  Tennessee  had  twenty- 
five  of  1,000  members  and  North  Carolina  fifty  of 
3,000  members,  a  promise  of  what  might  have  been 
achieved,  if  Abolitionists  more  violent  than  Lundy  had 
not  appeared  in  the  field  to  inflame  the  people  and 
render  nugatory  his  efforts  to  gain  the  end  by  peaceful 
and  gradual  methods. 

Soon  there  were  none  in  the  South  to  listen  to  Abo- 


BLACK  LETTERS  315 

lition  lecturers  or  to  read  the  writings  of  anti-slavery 
editors.  Their  persons  were  not  secure  from  mobs. 
They  were  proscribed  and  sometimes  assaulted,  even  in 
the  North.  The  missionaries  rapidly  withdrew  from 
the  Carolinas,  Virginia  and  Tennessee,  and  at  last  from 
such  middle  ground  as  Washington  and  Baltimore,  to 
enjoy  the  shelter  of  Philadelphia.  That  city  was  on 
"  the  borders  of  slavery,"  said  Whittier  when  he  came 
from  New  England  to  serve  the  Abolition  cause,  but 
nowhere  in  the  country  could  there  be  found  a  more 
devoted  band  of  anti-slavery  advocates. 

Lundy  was  again  a  pioneer  in  organizing  in  Phila 
delphia  in  1828  the  society  to  encourage  the  use  of  free 
labor  products.  Soon  there  were  advertisements  in  the 
anti-slavery  papers  of  "  Lydia  White's  Requited  Labor 
Grocery  and  Dry-Goods  Store,"  which  was  at  219 
North  Second  Street,  Philadelphia,  and  there  were 
several  shops  of  the  kind  in  different  Northern  cities 
where  cotton,  sugar,  rice  and  other  Southern  merchan 
dise  were  sold  only  under  certified  guarantees  that  slaves 
had  had  no  hand  in  the  production  of  them.  Much 
free  labor  cotton  was  woven  on  hand-looms  into  fabrics 
for  the  manufacture  of  shirts,  sheets  and  kerchiefs  for 
the  Abolitionists,  who  believed  with  Lundy  that  "  if 
there  were  no  consumers  of  slave  produce  there  would 
be  no  slaves."  In  1831  a  grocer  in  Philadelphia 
offered  a  premium  of  ten  dollars  above  the  market 
price  for  five  casks  of  rice  which  was  clean  of  the  taint 
of  slavery. 

Lundy  came  to  Philadelphia  in  the  thirties  to  pub 
lish  the  "  Genius,"  and  direct  another  paper,  "  The  Na 
tional  Enquirer  and  Constitutional  Advocate  of  Uni 
versal  Liberty,"  a  weekly  that  on  March  15,  1838,  was 


3i6  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

converted  into  the  "  Pennsylvania  Freeman,"  to  edit 
which  Whittier  was  brought  on  from  his  "  childhood's 
Merrimac  "  to  a  land  where  other  rivers  inspired  his 
song.  Lundy  had  served  his  generation  and  the  time 
was  at  hand  for  bolder  leaders.  He  had  met  Garrison 
in  Boston,  when  that  man  had  not  yet  enlisted  for  the 
contest,  and  had  persuaded  him  to  assist  in  editing  the 
"  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation  "  in  Baltimore. 
There  Garrison's  writings  gave  him  his  first  acquaint 
ance  with  the  inside  of  a  prison.  Lundy  observed  with 
a  little  superior  pride  that  he  had  known  how  to  select 
his  words  to  avoid  violations  of  law  while  his  colleague 
did  not.  The  methods  of  Lundy  were  too  mild  for  the 
new  Abolitionists.  His  plan  of  reasoning  with  the 
slave  owners  and  of  seeking  their  aid  in  the  only  spirit 
in  which  it  could  be  secured,  politely  asking  them  to 
free  their  blacks  and  send  them  to  Hayti  or  Mexico, 
had  no  more  advocates.  Taking  the  pledge  to  ,wear 
no  slave-grown  cotton  shirts  or  aprons  and  to  deny 
themselves  sugar  and  molasses,  was  too  lady-like  a 
weapon  for  those  who  believed  slavery  was  a  great 
moral  wrong  to  be  fought  tooth  and  nail  with  a  view  to 
Immediately  extirpating  it. 

The  parting  with  Lundy  was  amiable.  "  It  would 
perhaps  be  improper  for  me  to  say  anything  in  recom 
mendation  of  the  gentleman  who  succeeds  me  as  editor 
of  the  '  National  Enquirer,'  "  said  Lundy  of  Whittier 
in  the  last  issue  of  his  paper.  "  He  is  known  to  some 
of  its  readers  personally  and  to  all  of  them  by  reputa 
tion  ...  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  with  his  ap 
pointment  to  the  station.  I  should  not  have  willingly 
resigned  it  to  one  that  I  consider  incompetent  to  the  dis 
charge  of  the  important  duties  which  must  devolve  upon 


BLACK  LETTERS  317 

him,  but  I  am  confident  that  a  better  selection  could  not 
have  been  made  among  the  well-tried  friends  of  our 


cause." 


The  next  Thursday,  March  I5th,  the  "  Enquirer " 
became  u  The  Pennsylvania  Freeman,"  and  Whittier 
wrote  of  the  retiring  editor:  "  It  will  be  seen  that  the 
present  volume  of  this  paper  commences  under  new 
auspices.  Its  veteran  editor  has  retired  from  his  post, 
after  having  for  more  than  twenty  years  worn  the  Abo 
lition  harness  and  fought  the  battles  of  freedom  a 
greater  part  of  that  period  single-handed  and  alone, 
sacrificing  his  time,  his  hard-earned  property,  and  his 
health,  amidst  derision  and  contempt  on  one  hand,  and 
active  persecution  on  the  other." 

It  is  true  that  he  had  sacrificed  much.  He  published, 
lectured,  and  travelled  without  any  capital  but  his  faith 
in  the  cause  and  his  trust  in  God.  His  wife  died  in 
Baltimore,  when  he  was  in  Hayti  working  for  the  black 
man.  His  children  were  left  to  the  mercies  of  others, 
while  he  led  the  life  of  a  travelling  reformer  and  mis 
sionary.  His  money  gone,  while  far  from  home,  he 
returned  to  the  saddler's  trade  to  earn  a  few  dollars  to 
carry  him  to  the  next  town.  He  was  frequently  be 
friended  by  wealthy  Northern  Abolitionists  in  a  life 
which  to  some  seemed  to  be  inexplicably  wasted,  but 
which  craved  none  of  those  things  highly  valued  by 
other  men.  He  was  still  not  fifty  when  the  Abolition 
party  saw  new  lights  and  sent  him  to  the  rear  —  not 
too  old  to  fall  in  love  with  a  Quakeress  in  Chester  Coun 
ty,  Mary  Vickers,  the  daughter  of  a  prominent  station- 
keeper  on  the  Underground  Railway,  before  he  re 
turned  to  the  west  where  he  suddenly  died  early  the 
next  year. 


3i8  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

The  "  Pennsylvania  Freeman  "  for  a  long  time  ac 
tively  rivalled  Garrison's  "  Liberator."  It  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Quakers  so  completely  that  it  was  pub 
lished  on  Fifth-Day  instead  of  Thursday  and  letters  to 
the  editor  were  addressed  to  "  Friend  Whittier." 
Whittier  first  came  to  Philadelphia  in  December,  1833, 
as  a  delegate  from  Massachusetts  to  organize  the 
American  Anti-Slavery  Society.  His  fame  as  a  poet 
who  wrote  for  the  anti-slavery  papers,  had  preceded 
him,  and  men  and  women  pointed  to  him,  as  they  do  to 
those  of  whom  they  have  somehow  heard.  The  little 
convention  of  less  than  seventy-five  persons  met  at  the 
Adelphi  Building,  in  Fifth  Street  below  Walnut  Street, 
and  he  was  one  of  its  secretaries.  With  Garrison  and 
Samuel  J.  May,  he  was  a  member  of  the  committee  to 
draft  the  famous  Declaration  of  Anti-Slavery  Senti 
ments.  This  paper  was  written  principally  in  the  night 
in  a  negro's  attic.  In  it  there  was  much  promise  like 
this  which  follows: 

"  We  shall  organize  anti-slavery  societies  if  possible 
in  every  city,  town  and  village  in  our  land. 

'  We  shall  send  forth  agents  to  lift  up  the  voice  of 
remonstrance,  of  warning,  of  entreaty  and  rebuke. 

"  We  shall  aim  at  a  purification  of  the  churches  from 
all  participation  in  the  guilt  of  slavery. 

"  We  shall  encourage  the  labor  of  freemen  over  that 
of  the  slaves  by  giving  a  preference  to  their  produc 
tions;  and 

"  We  shall  spare  no  exertions  nor  means  to  bring  the 
whole  nation  to  speedy  repentance." 

The  delegates  in  attendance,  when  it  had  been  suf 
ficiently  discussed  and  amended,  signed  the  document, 
and  of  his  autograph  upon  it,  Whittier  used  to  remark 


BLACK  LETTERS  319 

to  visitors  to  the  home  of  his  old  age  at  Oak  Knoll, 
near  Danvers,  Mass. :  "  I  set  a  higher  value  on  my 
name  as  appended  to  the  Anti-Slavery  Declaration  of 
1833  than  on  the  title  page  of  any  book." 

Of  the  Society  formed  by  this  convention,  Whittier 
in  two  or  three  years  became  the  Secretary,  and  this 
office,  combined  with  his  new  editorial  duties,  made 
Philadelphia  the  centre  of  his  interest  and  attention, 
and  for  much  of  the  time  his  home,  until  1841.  The 
popular  temper,  even  in  Philadelphia  with  its  Quaker 
leanings  to  Abolitionism,  was  such  that  the  leaders 
were  now  finding  it  difficult  to  secure  halls  for  their 
meetings.  They  determined  therefore  to  erect  a  build 
ing  of  their  own  and  a  few  friends  of  the  slave  formed 
the  Pennsylvania  Hall  Association  of  which  Daniel 
Neall  was  the  President. 

"  Formed  on  the  good  old  plan, 
A  true  and  brave  and  downright  honest  man, 
He  blew  no  trumpet  in  the  market  place ; 
Nor  in  the  church,  with  hypocritic  face, 
Supplied  with  cant  the  lack  of  Christian  grace. 
Loathing  pretense,  he  did  with  cheerful  will 
What  others  talked  of  while  their  hands  were  still." 

Thus  Whittier  wrote  of  Neall  who  lived  until  a  few 
years  ago,  to  the  end  a  Philadelphian,  proud,  like  the 
other  Abolition  pioneers,  and  their  descendants  for 
them,  of  the  part  he  had  played  in  the  contest  against 
slavery.  There  were  2,000  shares  of  stock  sold  at 
twenty  dollars  a  share,  much  of  which  was  taken  by 
women  and  workingmen  who  cheerfully  contributed 
their  small  savings  in  a  martyr  cause.  The  hall  was 
built  on  Sixth  Street  at  the  south-west  corner  of  Haines 


320  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

Street,  between  Race  and  Cherry,  and  it  was  nearly 
ready  for  dedication  to  the  spirit  of  free  discus 
sion,  when  Whittier  came  to  Philadelphia  to  edit  "  The 
Pennsylvania  Freeman."  Its  first  floor  was  fitted  up 
with  a  small  auditorium,  committee-rooms,  offices  and 
stores,  and  over  these  in  the  second  story  was  a  large 
hall  which  with  its  galleries  would  seat  3,000  people. 
The  opening  ceremonies  were  set  for  the  week  begin 
ning  May  I4th,  and  they  brought  to  the  city  from  many 
directions,  Abolitionists  of  all  degrees  of  zeal,  cour 
age  and  sincerity.  John  Quincy  Adams,  Thaddeus 
Stevens  and  other  eminent  men  declined  in  letters  that 
spoke  of  honest  regret,  and  an  orator  was  found  in 
David  Paul  Brown,  the  eloquent  Philadelphia  lawyer. 
Brown  said  that  he  was  ready  "  to  fight  the  battle  of 
Liberty  "  as  long  as  he  had  "  a  shot  in  the  locker," 
although  he  wished  the  Abolitionists  to  know  that  he 
was  a  very  busy  man  and  that  they  were  being  much 
favored  by  his  coming  to  the  exercises.  The  "  shot  in 
his  locker  "  was  not  well  enough  aimed  to  suit  many  of 
those  present,  including  the  radical  young  Whittier, 
who  the  next  day,  addressed  a  poem  to  — 

"  This  fair  hall  to  truth  and  freedom  given, 
Pledged  to  the  right  before  all  earth  and  heaven; 
A  free  arena  for  the  strife  of  mind, 
To  caste  or  sect  or  color  unconfined." 

It  would  be : — 

"  A  fair  field,  where  mind  may  close  with  mind 
Free  as  the  sunshine  and  the  chainless  wind." 

Various  anti-slavery  societies  were  convening  in  the 
large  hall  and  the  committee  rooms  on  these  dedicatory 


UNDERCLIFF 

George  P.   Morris's  home   on   the    Hudson   River 


(See   page   301.) 


PENNSYLVANIA    HALL 

Located  on  Sixth  Street,  between  Race  and  Cherry 


BLACK  LETTERS  321 

days  and  on  the  evening  of  the  third  day,  Wednesday, 
May  1 6th,  the  anti-slavery  women  held  a  crowded  meet 
ing  which  was  addressed  briefly  by  Garrison,  who  was 
followed  by  Angelina  E.  Grimke,  married  a  little  while 
before  to  Theodore  D.  Weld,  another  well-known  Abo 
litionist. 

Angelina  Grimke  was  one  of  two  sisters  who  had 
emancipated  their  blacks  in  South  Carolina,  and  had 
come  North  to  give  their  testimony  against  slavery. 
They  were  great  lions  in  Abolition  circles  and  Angelina 
was  a  fluent  and  popular  talker  on  the  platform. 

She  had  barely  begun  to  speak  when  a  large  mob, 
which  had  been  assembling  in  the  street  outside,  inter 
rupted  the  meeting  with  hideous  noises,  scuffling  and 
cries  of  "  fire,"  meant  to  put  the  audience  in  a  panic 
and  precipitate  it  into  the  street.  Philadelphia  was 
now  to  pay  the  penalty  of  being  the  great  centre  it  has 
always  been  for  the  education  of  doctors.  There  were 
at  the  medical  schools  many  students  from  the  South 
who  had,  in  addition  to  the  traditional  deviltry  of  young 
collegians,  pronounced  anti-Abolitionist  proclivities. 
They  were  enforced  by  the  whole  tribe  of  ruffians  that 
gather  at  a  sign  in  large  cities  without  anyone  knowing 
whence  they  come,  and  by  the  knowledge  that  private 
and  official  sentiment  would  go  far  to  condone  their  law 
less  acts.  Placards  had  been  posted  in  public  places 
announcing  that  "  a  convention  to  effect  the  immediate 
emancipation  of  the  slaves  throughout  the  country  is 
in  session  in  this  city  and  it  is  the  duty  of  citizens  who 
entertain  a  proper  respect  for  the  Constitution  of  the 
Union  and  the  right  of  property  to  interfere." 

This  interference  was  now  at  hand,  but  the  audience 
stood  its  ground.  Mrs.  Weld  continued  to  speak  when 


322  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

none  could  hear  her.  Lucretia  Mott  rose  to  reassure 
the  timorous  when  panic  seemed  inevitable,  and  the  mob 
committed  no  greater  violence  than  to  hurl  at  the  win 
dows  stones  which  shattered  the  glass,  but  were  stopped 
on  their  course  by  the  inside  blinds.  These  meetings 
were  attended  by  many  free  negroes  and  the  Abolition 
ists,  who  were  as  nearly  clear  of  race  prejudice  as  men 
can  be  on  this  earth,  were  accused  of  walking  arm  in 
arm  with  them  —  white  women  with  black  men,  and 
white  men  with  black  women,  a  state  of  things  that  no 
pro-slavery  mob  could  ever  view  satisfiedly.  At  length 
the  women  in  the  hall  were  allowed  to  proceed  to  their 
homes  without  indignity,  but  several  negroes,  as  they 
filed  out,  were  set  upon  by  the  mob  and  one  was  quite 
seriously  injured. 

The  next  day,  Thursday,  May  lyth,  the  mob  got 
more  courage  and  as  the  hours  passed,  it  became  quite 
clear  that  the  evening  meeting  which  was  announced, 
could  not  be  held.  The  Mayor,  John  Swift,  was  asked 
to  protect  the  building,  but  he  declared  that  sentiment 
did  not  favor  the  hall  and  those  who  were  assembled  in 
it,  and  he  could  do  little  —  nothing  unless  he  were  given 
the  keys.  These  were  surrendered  to  him  and  as  the 
mob  grew  in  proportions  at  the  approach  of  night,  he 
appeared  before  it,  making  a  truculent  and  cowardly 
speech  in  which  he  asked  the  people  to  be  his  police 
men.  He  had  no  sooner  gone  than  the  crowd,  which 
seems  to  have  numbered  15,000  people,  developed  lead 
ers  who  crushed  in  the  doors.  The  ends  of  long 
pieces  of  timber  were  struck  against  the  frames  and 
panels  again  and  again  until  the  locks  and  hinges 
yielded.  The  ruffians  swarmed  in  and  pillaged  the 
offices.  With  wood  shavings  from  the  cellar,  blinds 


BLACK  LETTERS  323 

from  the  windows  and  Abolition  books,  a  flame  was 
kindled  on  the  speaker's  stand,  and  the  new  temple  of 
free  speech  in  Philadelphia  was  soon  lighting  the  skies. 

Whittier  had  just  moved  the  offices  of  "  The  Penn 
sylvania  Freeman  "  into  the  hall,  and  the  mob  rifled  his 
desk,  strewing  his  papers  about  while  he  looked  on  in 
a  great  white  coat  and  wig  which  he  had  borrowed  of 
his  friend,  Dr.  Joseph  Parrish,  in  whose  hospitable 
home  he  had  taken  refuge.  Probably  no  act  of  greater 
daring  was  ever  performed  by  this  quiet  Quaker  poet 
who  in  the  enthusiasm  of  his  youth  raged  in  print 
against  slavery,  but  could  never  speak  in  public  or  even 
read  his  own  sounding  verses,  and  who  abhorred  war, 
riot,  sin  and  all  fleshly  excitements  with  a  pure  hate. 
His  blood  was  too  warm,  however,  to  stay  indoors 
while  the  mob  burned  Pennsylvania  Hall  and  to  his 
dying  day  he  told  of  this  adventure  in  Philadelphia  with 
almost  boyish  pleasure. 

Benjamin  Lundy,  who  had  little  enough  of  this 
world's  possessions,  had  stored  his  all  in  a  room  in  the 
Hall  preparatory  to  his  removal  to  the  West,  and  it 
was  totally  destroyed.  The  firemen  came  with  their 
extinguishing  machines,  but  those  who  were  disposed  to 
quench  the  flames  and  protect  the  property  were  forcibly 
prevented  from  directing  their  streams  of  water  upon 
the  pyre,  and  in  a  little  while  the  building  was  in  ashes. 
The  Anti-slavery  Society,  which  had  adjourned  until 
the  following  day,  met  in  the  street  beside  the  smoking 
embers  in  the  spirit  of  the  ancient  martyrs  and  for 
years  the  black  ruin  remained,  mutely  witnessing  the 
disgrace  of  Philadelphia.  The  next  night  the  mob  in 
triumph  again  poured  through  the  streets,  bent  upon 
razing  the  homes  of  Lucretia  Mott  and  other  Abo- 


324  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

litionists,  and  the  offices  of  some  newspapers  which  had 
criticized  it  for  destroying  Pennsylvania  Hall;  but  it 
was  turned  from  its  purposes  and  vented  its  fury  by  set 
ting  on  fire  the  new  negro  orphan  asylum  of  the  Ortho 
dox  Friends  in  Thirteenth  Street,  and  a  negro  church. 

The  Governor  of  the  state  at  this  time  was  Joseph 
Ritner,  a  south  Pennsylvania  farmer,  who,  in  his 
first  message  to  the  legislature  in  1838,  had  spoken 
of  the  "  base  bowing  of  the  knee  to  the  dark  spirit  of 
slavery,"  and  declared  that  "  these  tenets,  viz.,  oppo 
sition  to  slavery  at  home  which  by  the  blessing  of  Provi 
dence  has  been  rendered  effectual;  opposition  to  the  ad 
mission  to  the  Union  of  new  slave-holding  states;  and 
opposition  to  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  the 
very  hearth  and  domestic  abode  of  the  national  honor, 
have  ever  been  and  are  the  cherished  doctrines  of  the 
state.  Let  us,  fellow  citizens,  stand  by  and  maintain 
them  unshrinkingly  and  fearlessly.  While  we  admit  and 
scrupulously  respect  the  constitutional  rights  of  other 
states  on  this  momentous  subject,  let  us  not  either  by 
fear  or  interest  be  driven  from  aught  of  that  spirit  of 
independence  and  veneration  for  freedom  which  has 
ever  characterized  our  beloved  commonwealth." 

For  this  speech  Ritner  was  called  an  Abolition  Gov 
ernor  and  Whittier  wrote  in  the  scathing  strain  which  at 
this  period  marked  his  verse: — 

"  Thank  God  for  the  token!     One  lip  is  still  free— - 
One  spirit  untrammel'd,  unbending  one  knee. 

O'er  thy  crags,  Alleghany,  a  blast  has  been  blown! 
Down  thy  tide,  Susquehanna,  the  murmur  has  gone! 
To  the  land  of  the  South  —  of  the  Charter  and  Chain  — 
Of  liberty  sweeten'd  with  slavery's  pain : 


BLACK  LETTERS  325 

Where  the  cant  of  Democracy  dwells  on  the  lips  — 
Of  the  forgers  of  fetters  and  wielders  of  whips." 

Governor  Ritner  now  came  forward  and  offered  a 
reward  for  the  apprehension  of  those  who  had  a  hand 
in  the  Philadelphia  outrages,  and  Mayor  Swift,  stirred 
at  last  to  a  sense  of  his  duty,  issued  a  similar  proclama 
tion,  but  of  course  without  effect.  The  dark  deed  was 
done.  Thousands  who  would  not  have  been  willing 
to  apply  the  torch  themselves,  were  at  heart  glad  that 
the  baiters  of  Abolitionists  were  abroad  in  the  city. 
The  jury  to  which  the  question  of  damages  for  the  de 
struction  of  Pennsylvania  Hall  was  referred  was  three 
years  in  making  its  award,  when  the  large  sum  the  own 
ers  asked  was  measurably  scaled.  The  county  at  last 
paid  $33,000  as  the  price  of  the  night  of  fun  in  which 
it  indulged  some  classes  of  its  citizens.  A  subscription 
was  at  once  opened  for  stock  in  a  company  which  should 
build  a  new  Pennsylvania  Hall,  but  the  movement  did 
not  succeed.  The  lot  in  a  few  years  was  sold  to  the 
Odd  Fellows,  who  erected  a  building  devoted  to  their 
particular  purposes  which  still  stands  upon  this  historic 
site. 

The  work  was  not  to  stop  by  reason  of  one  disaster, 
as  crushing  as  it  seemed,  but  Philadelphia  Abolitionists 
chose  now  to  exert  themselves  in  behalf  of  their  beloved 
cause  in  other  ways.  "  The  Pennsylvania  Freeman  " 
was  about  to  go  to  press  when  the  hall  was  burned. 
Whittier  wrote  a  "  Postscript  " : 

"ATROCIOUS  OUTRAGE!  BURNING  OF  PENN 
SYLVANIA  HALL! 

"  Eighteenth  day  of  Fifth  month,  half-past  seven 
o'clock  —  Pennsylvania  Hall  is  in  ashes !  The  beauti- 


326  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

ful  temple  consecrated  to  Liberty  has  been  offered  a 
smoking  sacrifice  to  the  Demon  of  Slavery.  In  the 
heart  of  this  city  a  flame  has  gone  up  to  Heaven.  It 
will  be  seen  from  Maine  to  Georgia.  In  its  red  and 
lurid  light  men  will  see  more  clearly  than  ever  the  black 
abominations  of  the  fiend  at  whose  instigation  it  was 
kindled,"  etc.,  etc. 

The  Executive  Committee  of  the  state  anti-slavery 
society  asked  through  the  "  Freeman  " : — 

"  Are  Pennsylvanians  prepared  to  yield  up  their  dear 
est  rights  to  perpetuate  a  system  which  cannot  live  in 
connection  with  the  free  exercise  of  those  rights  — 
which  shrinks  from  the  light  —  which  is  safe  only  in 
darkness  and  howls  in  agony  at  the  first  sunbeam  of 
truth  which  touches  it?  Will  they  allow  it  to  overstep 
its  legal  boundary  and  trample  on  the  free  institutions  of 
Pennsylvania,  to  smite  down  the  majesty  of  our  law  — 
to  hunt  after  the  lives  of  our  citizens  —  to  shake  its 
bloody  hands  in  defiance  of  our  rights  within  sight  of 
the  Hall  of  Independence  and  over  the  graves  of  Frank 
lin  and  Rush  and  Morris?  No!  The  old  spirit  of 
Pennsylvania  yet  lives  along  her  noble  rivers  and  the 
fastnesses  of  her  mountains  are  still  the  homes  of 
Liberty." 

These  ringing  declarations,  un-Quaker-like  as  they 
may  have  seemed,  were  born  of  a  spirit  which  Whittier 
did  not  assume.  They  came  of  hatred  of  a  wrong 
which  he  strongly  felt  and  did  not  hesitate  to  express. 
The  Quakers  of  America  and  particularly  of  Pennsyl 
vania  in  the  twenties,  had  unfortunately  been  divided 
by  the  forceful  preaching  of  a  New  York  State  Friend, 
Elias  Hicks.  Hicks  spoke  vigorously  and  effectively 
and  soon  aroused  many  of  the  older  Friends  to  the  point 


BLACK  LETTERS  327 

of  denouncing  him  as  an  unfaithful  minister  of  the 
church.  He  was  charged  with  denial  of  the  divinity 
of  Christ  and  with  unorthodoxy  in  several  important 
articles  of  faith.  The  rupture  was  soon  complete  and 
the  breach  irreparable,  for  although  both  parties  wor 
shipped  in  the  same  peculiar  way  —  on  plain  benches 
in  their  unadorned  meeting-houses,  the  women  in  drabs 
on  one  side,  the  men  in  their  severe  coats  and  broad 
brims  on  the  other;  the  elders  being  on  elevated  seats 
facing  the  body  of  the  people,  while  the  ministers  spoke 
only  in  response  to  the  callings  of  an  inner  spirit  —  there 
were  soon  the  Hicksite  and  Orthodox  Friends.  Neith 
er  to  this  day  will  acknowledge  the  distinguishing  name 
and  each  believes  itself  to  be  the  body  of  true  Friends. 
Whittier  was  an  Orthodox  Friend  and  he  came  to 
Pennsylvania  when  the  two  parties  in  Philadelphia  and 
its  neighborhood  were  scarcely  yet  done  with  the  law 
suits  to  establish  themselves  in  the  possession  of  meet 
ing-houses,  schools,  grave-yards  and  other  property. 
In  some  places  the  houses  were  divided  by  partitions 
and  the  members  religiously  mused  and  preached  in  op 
posite  ends  of  the  same  building  where  before  they  had 
formed  a  single  congregation.  Whittier  complained 
that  in  Bucks  and  Chester  Counties  the  Hicksites  had 
obtained  control  of  nearly  all  the  old  meeting-houses. 
There  were  no  Orthodox  Friends  to  contest  their  rights 
of  possession.  In  Philadelphia  he  usually  attended  the 
Orthodox  Twelfth  Street  Meeting,  but  was  mostly 
thrown  into  the  society  of  the  Hicksites,  who  were  lead 
ing  in  the  Abolition  movement.  Hicks  himself  was  an 
uncompromising  Abolitionist.  It  has  never  been  as-; 
serted  or  believed  that  the  Orthodox  Friends  were  in 
thought  and  feeling  less  hostile  to  slavery  than  the 


328  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Hicksites;  but  so  distrustful  were  they  of  the  men  and 
women  with  whom  they  had  so  lately  been  in  union 
and  of  their  transcendentalism  and  disposition  to  free 
thinking,  that  they  were  unwilling  to  take  a  very  active 
part  in  the  contest. 

With  many  this  view  of  Hicksite  unsoundness  seemed 
to  find  confirmation  when  Lucretia  Mott  assisted  the 
"  world's  people  "  in  their  Anti-Slavery  Fairs,  and  a 
little  later  a  Society  of  Progressive  Friends  was  formed 
at  Longwood,  Chester  County,  two  miles  east  of  Ken- 
nett  Square.  In  this  forum  of  free  thought  Garrison, 
Theodore  Parker,  Lucretia  Mott,  Fred  Douglass,  Oli 
ver  Johnson,  Mary  Grew,  Anna  Dickinson  and  all  the 
reformers  of  the  day,  both  men  and  women,  spoke  for 
Abolition,  temperance,  female  suffrage,  spiritualism, 
and  religious  liberty,  deeply  exciting  the  suspicion  of 
the  conservative  churches. 

Of  Whittier  as  of  many  of  his  Hicksite  friends,  it 
could  be  said  truly  that  he  was  an  Abolitionist  first  and 
a  Quaker  afterward.  In  Philadelphia  he  was  working 
with  Dr.  Parrish,  James  Miller  McKim,  a  Presbyterian 
clergyman  of  Lancaster  County,  who  married  a  Chester 
County  Quakeress  and  was  later  himself  a  member  of 
the  Society  of  Friends;  William  H.  Burleigh  and  C.  C. 
Burleigh,  brothers  from  Connecticut,  who  were  writers 
and  lecturers;  Lucretia  Mott,  Mary  Grew,  the  little 
Quakeress  of  whom  Whittier  wrote, 

'  The  world  were  safe,  if  but  a  few 
Could  grow  in  grace  as  Mary  Grew;" 

Robert  Purvis,  who  pretended  to  be  a  negro  but  who 
was  in  reality  a  white  man  except  for  some  blood  re 
ceived  through  his  mother  from  the  Moors;  Dr.  Bar- 


BLACK  LETTERS  .  329 

tholomew  Fussell,  Abraham  L.  Pennock,  John  Coxe, 
and  the  Chester  County  leaders ;  Joseph  Healy,  of  Bucks 
County,  who  was  the  financial  backer  and  business  man 
of  "The  Pennsylvania  Freeman";  Daniel  Neall  and 
many  more. 

Whittier  lived  very  quietly  in  Philadelphia.  A  poor 
boy,  without  family  connections  that  could  be  very  use 
ful  to  him  at  home,  he  was  not  far  past  this  point  in 
Pennsylvania.  As  a  writer  he  was  not  yet  known  out 
side  of  the  anti-slavery  circle.  His  first  volume,  a  col 
lection  of  Abolition  poems,  did  not  appear  until  1837. 
There  was  little  of  general  value  to  presage  his  rise  to 
the  position  he  later  came  to  occupy  in  American  let 
ters.  In  Philadelphia  there  were  many  warm-hearted 
Quakers  who  opened  their  homes  to  him,  but  he  lived 
mostly  at  boarding  and  lodging  houses  where  even 
common  comforts  were  scantly  dealt  out.  Once  he  was 
heard  to  relate,  with  the  keen  appreciation  of  honest  fun 
which  always  characterized  him,  how  he  and  Miller 
McKim  had  played  a  joke  on  "  Charley  "  Burleigh. 
Burleigh  had  red  hair  that  fell  in  long  curls  over  his 
shoulders  and  plumed  himself  on  a  resemblance  to 
Christ  He,  Whittier  and  McKim  at  one  time  occu 
pied  a  room  together,  and  Burleigh's  clothing  had  be 
come  so  shabby  that  his  two  fellows  resolved  to  surprise 
him  one  night  with  a  new  suit.  Having  taken  his  meas 
ure  in  a  rough  manner,  they  put  the  garments  at  his  bed 
side  after  he  had  fallen  asleep,  spirited  away  the  old 
clothing  and  in  the  morning  were  awake  in  time  to  note 
the  results.  With  their  heads  half-covered,  they 
watched  him  take  up  the  suit,  eye  it  suspiciously  and 
then  without  a  word  put  it  on.  Not  then,  nor  ever  af 
ter,  did  Burleigh  allude  to  the  incident. 


330  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Whittier  was  of  a  delicate  build  and  thus  early  had 
many  physical  ailments  which  in  later  life  he  attributed 
to  the  exposing  and  rough  work  on  his  father's  farm. 
It  was  several  times  necessary  for  him  to  relinquish  his 
editorial  duties  and  visit  or  travel.  From  time  to  time 
he  returned  to  Massachusetts  and  for  a  considerable 
period  was  a  guest  of  Joseph  Healy  at  "  Spring  Grove 
Farm  "  on  a  high  bluff  overlooking  the  Delaware  River 
in  Bucks  County.  Although  palpitation  of  the  heart, 
neuralgia  and  other  ills  interrupted  his  labors,  his  paper 
throve.  In  August,  1838,  he  wrote  to  his  sister  Eliza 
beth,  who  stayed  with  him  in  Philadelphia  for  some 
time :  "  My  paper  is  beginning  to  attract  attention  and 
I  should  not  think  it  strange  if  it  got  pretty  essentially 
mobbed  before  the  summer  is  out."  It  was  for  the 
most  part  an  appeal  to  the  nation's  moral  sense  and 
what  was  not  rhetoric  to  arouse  lethargic  souls  and  put 
courage  into  faltering  hearts,  was  a  collection  of  items 
of  news  depicting  the  inhumanities  of  slavery.  The 
pages  teemed  with  horrible  tales  of  bloodhounds,  flog 
gings  and  the  auction  block.  The  brutalities  of  the 
masters  and  overseers  were  magnified.  Even  in  the 
literary  department  of  the  paper  the  poems  and  tales 
were  well  steeped  in  Abolition.  Early  in  1840  Whit- 
tier's  ill-health  caused  him  to  leave  the  city  and  neigh 
borhood  to  which  his  interest,  then  and  through  life, 
was  so  closely  bound. 

Though  he  was  here  for  less  than  three  years,  he  felt 
himself  of  Philadelphia  and  of  its  people,  so  many  of 
whom  were  of  his  religion  and  of  his  politics  on  the 
slavery  question.  So  long  as  he  lived  he  did  not  fail  to 
recall  with  delight  the  years  spent  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
to  view  its  people  and  its  places  through  the  favoring 


BLACK  LETTERS  331 

eyes  of  happy  youth.  A  happy  youth  he  was  when  the 
city  was  his  home  and  curiously  in  later  life  he  never  re 
visited  it,  nor  indeed  travelled  anywhere,  for  which  rea 
son  his  only  impressions  of  the  outside  world,  received 
here,  were  deepened.  He  was  always  particularly 
drawn  to 

"  The  fire-tried  men  of  '38,  who  saw  with  me  the  fall 
Midst  roaring  flames  and  shouting  mob  of   Pennsylvania's 
Hall," 

and  their  descendants.  "  Does  thee  know,'1  he  wrote 
to  Sara  Louisa  Oberholtzer  in  1873,  "  I  think  the  old 
Quaker  settlements  of  Chester,  Bucks,  Delaware  and 
Lancaster  Counties  forty  years  ago  were  nearer  the  per 
fection  of  human  society  than  anything  I  have  since  seen 
or  had  heard  of  before  ?  As  I  sit  alone  these  long  win 
ter  evenings  I  call  before  me  the  men  and  women,  and 
the  scenery  and  dwellings  until  I  almost  live  my  young 
er  days  over  again.  It  is  greater  than  St.  Paul's  Roman 
citizenship  to  have  been  born  in  such  a  community." 

To  all  Pennsylvania  writers,  especially  if  they  had 
sprung  of  Quaker  stock  and  depicted  local  scenes,  he 
was  generous  and  encouraging.  Fame  never  spoiled 
him  for  a  service  that  he  cordially  enjoyed.  Of  Bayard 
Taylor  he  was  a  warm  admirer  and  wrote  at  the  request 
of  the  Pennsylvania  poet,  who  himself  composed  the 
hymn,  the  ode  read  at  the  opening  of  the  Centennial 
Exhibition  in  Philadelphia  in  1776,  beginning  — 

"  Our  fathers'  God :  from  out  whose  hand 
The  centuries  fall  like  grains  of  sand, 
We  meet  to-day,  united,  free, 
And  loyal  to  our  land  and  Thee, 


332  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

To  thank  thee  for  the  era  done, 
And  trust  thee  for  the  opening  one." 

Chester  County  was  to  Whittier  "  that  beautiful  land 
of  plenty  and  peace  which  Bayard  Taylor  has  de 
scribed  in  his  4  Story  of  Kennett.'  '  To  the  end  of 
his  life  the  poet  had  a  Philadelphia  tailor  who  from 
time  to  time  sent  him  the  plain  Quaker  coats  which  he 
always  wore  and  without  the  least  change  in  measure 
ments  or  style. 

Many  of  the  subjects  of  Whittier's  poems  are  Penn- 
sylvanian.  He  believed  in  the  virtue  of  the  people  as 
when  he  sang  with  the  spirit  of  the  anti-slavery  time: — 

"  Will  that  land  of  the  free  and  the  good  wear  a  chain  ? 
Will  the  call  to  the  rescue  of  freedom  be  vain? 

No,  never!     One  voice,  like  the  sound  in  the  cloud 
When  the  roar  of  the  storm  waxes  loud  and  more  loud, 
Wherever  the  foot  of  the  freeman  hath  press'd, 
From  the  Delaware's  marge  to  the  Lake  of  the  West, 
On  the  South-going  breezes  shall  deepen  and  grow 
Till  the  land  it  sweeps  over  shall  tremble  below." 

As  early  as  in  August,  1838,  Whittier  wrote  to  a 
Boston  anti-slavery  leader:  "  Our  cause  here  is  slowly 
and  against  unnumbered  obstacles  going  ahead.  You 
in  New  England  have  got  pro-slavery  to  contend  with; 
we  have  got  into  a  death  grapple  with  slavery  itself. 
They  leave  no  stone  unturned. to  put  us  down.  The 
clergy  of  all  denominations  are  preaching  against  us. 
The  politicians  are  abusing  us  in  their  filthy  papers; 
and  dirty  penny  sheets,  with  most  outrageous  carica 
tures  of  Garrison,  Thompson  and  Angelina  Grirnke 
Weld,  are  hawked  daily  about  the  streets.  But  we 


BLACK  LETTERS  333 

shall  go  ahead  nevertheless.  We  are  slow-moulded, 
heavy-sterned,  Dutch-built  out  here  away;  but  when 
once  started  on  the  right  track  there  is  no  backing  out 
with  us.  The  Abolitionists  of  old  Pennsylvania  are 
of  the  right  material;  many  of  them  don't  believe  in 
the  devil  and  those  who  do  aren't  afraid  of  him." 

Many  have  sought  to  involve  Whittier  in  romances 
with  several  young  women  in  Pennsylvania  on  the 
strength  of  a  few  amatory  poems  that  escaped  him  at 
this  period.  As  much  inquiry  and  speculation  have 
never  led  to  the  precise  identification  of  the  lady,  it  is 
perhaps  right  to  conclude  that  his  attachments  were  only 
friendships,  that  his  ill  health  and  the  love  he  bore 
his  mother  and  sister,  who  depended  greatly  upon  him, 
compelled  him,  as  he  said,  "  to  look  into  happiness 
through  the  eyes  of  others  and  to  thank  God  for  the 
happy  unions  and  the  holy  firesides  I  have  known." 

The  most  active,  interesting,  and,  in  some  ways,  lit 
erary  of  the  Philadelphia  Abolitionists  on  the  Quaker 
side  was  Lucretia  Mott,  who  very  early  identified  her 
self  with  the  movement  to  free  the  slave.  A  married 
matron  though  she  already  was,  she  almost  deranged 
Whittier's  fancy  at  the  Anti-Slavery  Convention  in 
Philadelphia  in  1833.  She  had  "  a  clear,  sweet  voice," 
said  he,  "  the  charm  of  which  I  have  never  forgotten  " ; 
she  was  "  a  beautiful  and  graceful  woman  in  the  prime 
of  life  with  a  face  beneath  her  plain  cap  as  finely  intel 
lectual  as  that  of  Madame  Roland."  Born  a  Coffin 
on  the  island  of  Nantucket,  in  1811  when  barely 
eighteen  she  was  married  to  James  Mott  in  the  Pine 
Street  Meeting-House  in  Philadelphia.  She  first  spoke 
publicly  in  the  Twelfth  Street  Meeting  in  1816  before 
the  separation,  and  thereafter  was  an  acknowledged 


334  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

minister  among  Friends,  adhering  to  Hicksism  until  her 
death,  in  1880,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven.  In  that 
time  it  may  be  truly  said  that  her  labors  were  indefat 
igable  and  the  public  acclamation  she  won,  not  only 
in  the  city  and  the  country  over  which  she  travelled  in 
America,  but  in  England,  where  she  later  visited,  was 
remarkable. 

James  Mott  seems  to  have  been  as  indifferent  to  pub 
lic  notice  as  he  was  willing  to  encourage  and  support  his 
wife  in  her  humanitarian  ministrations.  Life  with  him 
was  at  first  a  serious  struggle,  but  he  at  length  became 
a  cotton  commission  merchant  in  which  business  he 
achieved  considerable  success.  As  cotton  was  grown 
by  slaves,  and  his  wife,  as  luck  would  have  it,  was  at 
the  head  of  the  Free  Labor  Products  Society,  he  was 
induced  to  quit  the  trade  in  1830  and  turn  his  attention 
to  wool  which  came  from  flocks  that  no  slave  tended. 
He  continued  to  deal  in  the  fleece  of  the  sheep  for  more 
than  twenty  years,  suffering  no  pecuniary  disadvantage 
by  his  change  from  a  growth  of  the  southern  bottoms  to 
a  product  of  the  northern  hills.  In  1836  James  and 
Lucretia  Mott's  daughter  Maria  married  Edward  M. 
Davis,  another  Abolitionist,  who  was  the  friend  of 
Whittier,  Lowell  and  most  of  the  anti-slavery  leaders. 
For  twenty  years  the  Motts  lived  on  Ninth  Street,  be 
tween  Race  and  Vine,  in  an  old-fashioned  house  with  a 
large  garden.  They  were  there  when  the  mob  swept 
through  the  streets  the  night  after  Pennsylvania  Hall 
was  burned,  and  their  home  would  have  been  attacked 
and  in  all  likelihood  razed  to  the  ground  if  the  crowd's 
head  had  not  been  turned  and  its  mad  fury  expended 
on  the  Orphan  Asylum.  Afterward  the  family  re 
moved  to  338  Arch  Street  (old  number),  and  in  1857 


BLACK  LETTERS  335 

to  "  Roadside,"  a  vine-covered,  flower-encompassed  cot 
tage  about  eight  miles  north  of  the  city  beyond  Oak 
Lane  on  the  Old  York  Road.  Edward  M.  Davis  had 
earlier  purchased  a  farm  in  that  neighborhood,  called 
"  Oak  Farm,"  and  in  this  quiet  rural  locality  the  rest  of 
Lucretia  Mott's  days  were  passed. 

To  her  many  came,  and  with  the  most  various  de 
mands.  Driving  to  the  old  Abington  Meeting,  silent 
and  secluded  among  the  tall  trees  near  Jenkintown, 
preaching  on  her  missionary  circuits,  and  lending  a  hand 
to  public  movements  that  seemed  to  her  good,  she  was 
a  centre  of  interest  for  all  manner  of  women  and  men. 
Fugitive  slaves,  lecturers,  reformers  —  all  found  their 
way  to  her  home.  "  No  man  in  the  Abolition  party," 
says  Rebecca  Harding  Davis  in  her  "  Reminiscences," 
"  had  a  more  vigorous  brain  or  ready  eloquence  than 
this  famous  Quaker  preacher,  but  much  of  her  power 
came  from  the  fact  that  she  was  one  of  the  most 
womanly  of  women.  She  had  pity  and  tenderness 
enough  in  her  heart  for  the  mother  of  mankind.  .  .  . 
Even  in  extreme  old  age  she  was  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  women  I  have  ever  seen."  While  Southern- 
ers  regarded  her  as  "  the  modern  Borgia,  the  planner 
of  wars  and  murders,"  one  who  saw  her  remarked  in 
surprise:  "  Why,  she  looks  like  a  saint.  I  believe  she 
is  one  of  the  saints  of  God." 

When  news  of  the  final  passage  of  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment  reached  her,  Lucretia  Mott  was  with  some 
of  her  friends,  woman  reformers  like  herself.  "  What 
will  thee  and  I  do  now?  "  one  of  them  said  to  her  with 
some  appreciation  of  the  humor  implied  by  the  remark. 
"  Well,  there  is  prison  reform,"  she  answered,  "  or  we 
might  stir  up  women  to  vote." 


336  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

None  of  these  practised  agitators  was  long  to  remain 
idle.  They  were  perfectionists  who  had  set  out  to  re 
deem  mankind.  Yet,  strangely,  no  woman  was  more 
domestic  than  Lucretia  Mott.  When  she  left  her  home 
to  visit  her  children  and  friends,  she  did  not  forget  to 
put  a  few  eggs  or  vegetables  in  her  hand-bag.  She 
made  marvelous  bedspreads  and  disproved  the  charge 
that  women  who  engage  in  public  work  are  inept  and 
careless  about  the  household  vocations.  Louis  Kossuth 
and  Charles  Dickens  brought  letters  to  her  from  Europe 
where  she  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  great  American 
liberators,  and  a  feature  of  the  city.  On  February  25, 
1842,  she  wrote  to  a  friend  in  the  frank,  quizzical, 
half-humorous  Quaker  way: 

"  Another  lion  has  just  arrived  in  the  city —  Charles 
Dickens.  Our  children  have  a  strong  desire  to  see  him. 
I,  too,  have  liked  the  benevolent  tendency  of  his  writ 
ings,  though  I  have  read  very  little  in  them.  I  did  not 
expect  to  seek  an  interview  or  to  invite  him  here,  as  he 
was  not  quite  of  our  sort.  But  just  now  there  was 
left  at  our  door  his  and  his  wife's  card  with  a  kind 
letter  from  our  dear  friend,  E.  J.  Reed,  of  London, 
introducing  them  and  expressing  a  strong  desire  that  we 
would  make  their  acquaintance.  There  is  not  a  woman 
in  London  whose  draft  I  would  more  gladly  honor. 
So  now  we  shall  call  on  them  and  our  daughters  are  in 
high  glee."  * 

In  the  ranks  of  the  ordained  clergy  of  the  city  no 
man  was  so  early  aroused,  or  did  such  useful  service  for 
the  Abolition  cause  as  Dr.  William  Henry  Furness,  the 
good  and  gifted  Unitarian  minister,  whose  son,  Horace 

*  The  letters  of  James  and  Lucretia  Mott  were  edited  and  pub 
lished  by  their  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Hallowell,  in  1884. 


BLACK  LETTERS  337 

Howard  Furness,  is  today  foremost  among  Shake 
spearian  scholars.  Born  in  Boston  in  1802,  he,  as  a 
boy,  was  the  playmate  of  Emerson,  and  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1820,  one  year  ahead  of  the  sage  of  Con 
cord.  Finishing  the  courses  in  the  theological  school 
in  1824,  he  came  to  a  little  Unitarian  congregation 
in  Philadelphia,  which  had  been  established  by  Dr. 
Priestley.  The  members  had  built  a  small  brick  church, 
and  Furness,  in  1825,  still  but  twenty-three  years  old, 
was  installed  as  its  pastor.  He  preached  to  this  people 
for  fifty  years  when  he  became  pastor  emeritus,  to 
continue  his  discourses  twenty  years  more,  or  until  his 
death  in  1896.  Although  his  life  almost  covered  the 
century,  he  seemed  never  to  grow  old  in  spirit,  even 
when  time  had  seamed  his  face  and  silvered  his  hair. 
He  exerted  a  beneficent  influence  upon  the  city  in  many 
ways  so  long  as  he  lived. 

Dr.  Furness  was  a  kinsman  of  Wendell  Phillips  and 
a  friend  of  Garrison  and  Lucretia  Mott,  who  with  her 
husband,  was  accounted  to  be  no  small  factor  in  elicit 
ing  his  sympathy  for  the  slave.  He  foresaw  the  result 
of  his  unpopular  course,  but  dared  all  and  lost  many 
members  who,  however,  gradually  returned  to  his 
church.  A  parishioner  was  once  heard  to  remark  that 
in  twenty-five  years  he  was  certain  no  Sunday  passed 
when  Dr.  Furness  in  sermon  or  prayer  did  not  make  an 
allusion  to  the  evils  of  African  slavery.  His  tempera 
ment  did  not  cause  him  to  rage  with  the  vehemence  of 
Phillips,  Garrison  and  Theodore  Parker,  but  his  testi 
mony  was  long  and  consistently  given  against  the 
wrongs  of  human  bondage.  His  religious  writings, 
which  include  many  titles,  would  not  rank  very  high  in 
this  day  of  careful  criticism  of  the  Scriptures,  but  his 


338  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

manifest  spirituality  which  so  early  attracted  the 
Quakers  to  him,  has  left  its  wholesome  impress  upon 
the  community,  and  will  cause  all  who  ever  heard  his 
voice  or  saw  his  saint-like  face  to  remember  him  grate 
fully.  Thus  did  a  great  leader  in  the  church,  regard 
less  of  the  cost  of  the  step,  arise  to  heed  Whittier's 
stirring  command: 

"  Stand  in  thy  place  and  testify 

To  coming  ages  long, 
That  truth  is  stronger  than  a  lie, 
And  righteousness  than  wrong." 


CHAPTER  X 

LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS 

In  the  middle  of  the  century  a  number  of  important 
changes  came  over  the  business  of  publishing  and  selling 
books.  For  many  years  the  leading  publishing  firm  in 
Philadelphia  and,  indeed,  in  America,  was  the  old  house 
of  Mathew  Carey,  which  in  1885  celebrated  its  cen 
tennial,  and  now,  therefore,  is  120  years  old.  In  1817 
Mathew  Carey  admitted  to  partnership  with  him  his 
eldest  son,  Henry  Charles  Carey,  who,  from  an  early 
age,  had  been  taught  the  business  very  thoroughly. 
Four  years  later  Isaac  Lea,  who  had  married  one  of 
Mr.  Carey's  daughters,  joined  the  firm.  In  1824  its 
founder  retired  from  active  part  in  the  direction  of  the 
business,  and  afterward  the  firm  was  known  as  Carey 
and  Lea.  When  a  younger  son,  Edward  L.  Carey, 
attained  his  majority,  the  firm  name  became  Carey,  Lea 
and  Carey,  but  in  1829  the  business  was  divided.  The 
brothers  separated,  Edward  taking  the  retail  trade  as 
his  portion,  and  inviting  to  partnership  with  him  a 
young  Jewish  business  man,  but  eighteen  years  of  age, 
Abraham  Hart.  At  ten,  upon  the  death  of  his  father, 
Hart  was  compelled  to  enter  a  counting-house,  where  he 
served  for  several  years  without  recompense,  at  length 
obtaining  money  enough  to  establish  his  mother  in  the 
fancy  goods  business  in  a  little  shop  in  Third  Street, 
opposite  the  Girard  Bank.  He  soon  decided  to  add 
books  to  the  meagre  stock.  The  venture  was  so  suc- 

339 


34o  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

cessful  that  he  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Careys. 
Thus  was  formed  the  firm  of  Carey  and  Hart,  long  and 
favorably  known,  not  only  as  booksellers,  but  as  pub 
lishers  of  much  of  the  best  literature  of  the  time.  They 
at  one  period  outstripped  the  parent  house  in  the  bril 
liancy  of  their  list  of  authors,  and  had  a  class  of  pub 
lications  which  at  a  later  time  gravitated  to  Boston  to 
the  house  of  Ticknor  and  Fields. 

They  published  the  works  of  the  New  England,  as 
well  as  the  Pennsylvania,  poets,  and  in  the  excellence  of 
their  printing,  the  illustrations  with  which  they  adorned 
their  books,  and  their  general  high  standards  of  taste, 
gave  the  city  a  pre-eminent  reputation.  For  many 
years,  the  firm  issued  a  Christmas  souvenir  volume 
called  the  "  Gift,"  which  distanced  all  other  publica 
tions  of  the  kind.  It  was  edited  for  a  time  by  Eliza 
Leslie.  The  contents  of  the  volume  for  1845  included 
poems,  sketches  and  stories  by  Henry  W.  Longfellow, 
N.  P.  Willis,  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  R.  W.  Emerson,  H.  T. 
Tuckerman,  Wm.  H.  Furness,  Joseph  C.  Neal,  C.  P. 
Cranch,  Mrs.  Ellet,  Mrs.  Sigourney  and  Charles  Fenno 
Hoffman.  The  plates,  which  were  by  C.  R.  Leslie, 
Thomas  Sully,  Malbone,  Huntington  and  others,  were 
engraved  by  John  Cheney,  J.  I.  Pease,  R.  W.  Dodson, 
and  the  best  artists  of  the  day. 

Edward  Carey  was  a  man  of  excellent  taste  and  wide 
reading  in  many  fields.  He  was  a  liberal  patron  of 
the  fine  arts,  his  home  being  veritably  a  picture  gallery. 
His  bodily  sufferings  for  years  were  acute  and  he  died  in 
1845  in  the  fortieth  year  of  his  age,  some  branches  of 
the  business  being  taken  over  by  his  nephew,  Henry 
Carey  Baird,  whose  firm  still  exists ;  while  others,  through 
Mr.  Hart,  now  of  established  fortune,  came  into  the 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  341 

possession  of  Parry  and  McMillan,  who  were  favor 
ably  known  for  several  years  in  the  publishing  busi 
ness  in  Philadelphia.  Parry  was  an  old  employee  of 
Mr.  Hart  and  his  partner,  James  McMillan,  was  a 
bookseller  who  had  come  to  the  city  from  New  Bruns 
wick. 

Meantime,  upon  Edward  Carey's  withdrawal  with 
the  retail  business,  the  parent  firm,  v/hich  now  devoted 
itself  exclusively  to  book-publishing,  resumed  the  name 
of  Carey  and  Lea.  In  1833  William  A.  Blanchard, 
who  had  been  an  employee  of  the  house  for  more  than 
twenty  years,  was  taken  into  the  firm,  which  became 
Carey,  Lea  and  Blanchard,  and  in  1836,  when  Henry 
C.  Carey,  by  this  time  a  widely  known  economist,  re 
tired,  the  Carey  name  disappeared  from  the  firm  title 
forever.  It  remained  Lea  and  Blanchard  until  1851, 
when  the  principal  glory  of  the  house  seems  to  have 
departed, —  at  any  rate  as  far  as  its  activity  in  the  pub 
lication  of  general  literature  was  concerned.  Isaac 
Lea,  who  had  become  a  noted  conchologist  and  geolo 
gist,  left  the  firm  in  1851  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Henry  Charles  Lea,  today  a  leading  historian.  The 
house  thereafter,  until  1865,  was  known  as  Blanchard 
and  Lea,  when  Mr.  Blanchard  retired  in  favor  of  his 
son,  Henry  Blanchard.  For  a  time  the  firm  was  once 
more  Lea  and  Blanchard,  but  ill-health  soon  compelled 
the  young  Mr.  Blanchard  to  leave  the  business,  when 
Henry  Charles  Lea  conducted  it  in  his  own  name  until 
his  sons  and  some  old  employees  were  taken  into  the 
firm.  Since  1885,  it  has  been  known  as  Lea  Brothers 
and  Company.  The  house,  for  many  years,  has  de 
voted  itself  principally  to  the  publication  of  scientific, 
and  particularly  medical  works,  being  a  factor  in  con- 


342  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

junction  with  several  other  firms  with  which  this  business 
is  a  specialty,  to  make  the  city  a  centre  for  the  medical 
text-book  trade,  as  it  has  long  been  a  centre  for  medical 
education. 

The  history  of  the  Carey  firms  from  the  Revolution 
to  the  Civil  War  is  the  history  of  the  book  on  its  busi 
ness  side  in  this  country.  Some  personal  allusions  to 
Mathew  Carey,  the  Irish  emigre,  whose  indomitable 
energy  made  the  reputation  of  the  house,  are  found  in 
an  earlier  chapter.  The  methods  of  selling  books  in 
his  day  were  in  some  respects  curious.  Mathew  Carey 
was  instrumental  in  organizing  the  American  "  Literary 
Fair,"  the  first  being  held  in  New  York  in  June,  1802. 
It  was  patterned  after  the  book-fairs  at  Frankfort  and 
Leipsic  and  was  an  enterprising  business  conception. 
In  future  it  was  resolved  that  it  should  be  held  at  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  alternately,  in  New  York  in 
April  and  in  Philadelphia  in  October.  The  October 
Fair  in  1802  was  postponed  until  December  because  of 
the  yellow  fever,  when  Philadelphia  extended  its  first 
welcome  to  the  booksellers.  The  meeting  lasted  for 
about  two  weeks,  and  was  held  at  the  Franklin  Hotel, 
on  the  south  side  of  Market  Street,  between  Third  and 
Fourth,  in  Franklin  Court.  At  this  Fair  the  idea  of 
auctions  was  introduced;  lots  of  several  hundred  vol 
umes,  bound  or  in  sheets,  of  such  works  as  "  Paradise 
Lost,"  the  "  Life  of  Joseph,"  Cook's  "  Voyages,"  Gold 
smith's  "  Greece"  and  Dodsley's  "Fables,"  were 
offered  for  sale  to  the  highest  bidder.  Mr.  Carey  was 
elected  the  first  President  of  the  American  Association 
of  Booksellers  and  before  they  went  back  to  their  vari 
ous  homes  they  ate  a  dinner  together  in  the  hotel. 

These  semi-annual  sales  promised  very  well,  but,  in 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  343 

practice,  expectations  were  defeated  by  the  disagree 
ments  between  the  country  and  city  traders.  The  coun 
try  printers  brought  in  editions  of  popular  works,  run 
off  on  inferior  paper  from  worn  types,  and  thus  enjoyed 
an  improper  advantage,  for  which  reason  the  Fairs  were 
abandoned  after  four  or  five  years  of  rather  indifferent 
success. 

The  auction  feature  of  the  Literary  Fair  was  revived 
in  1824  by  Henry  C.  Carey,  when  he  instituted  in 
Philadelphia  the  "  Book  Trade  Sales,"  later,  for  many 
years,  in  charge  of  Moses  Thomas,  the  old  publisher  of 
the  "  Analectic  Magazine,"  now  a  well-known  auc 
tioneer.  His  sales  attracted  booksellers  from  all  parts 
of  the  Union,  and  were  conducted  in  rooms  on  the 
present  site  of  the  Bullitt  Building,  in  Fourth  Street. 
Similar  sales  were  held  subsequently  in  Boston  and  New 
York,  where  they  were  continued  after  Philadelphia 
had  abandoned  them. 

Mathew  Carey  had  an  odd  salesman  in  Rev.  Mason 
L.  Weems,  who  wrote  the  "  Life  of  Washington," 
wherein  was  started  the  famous  mythical  story  about 
the  cutting  down  of  the  cherry-tree,  of  which  the  end 
will  never  be  heard;  and  biographies  of  Franklin,  Wil 
liam  Penn  and  other  works  not  so  well-known.  For 
several  years  he  was  in  charge  of  the  Episcopal  parish 
at  Mount  Vernon  in  Virginia,  and  coming  to  Philadel 
phia,  he  was  employed  by  Carey  as  a  book  agent.  He 
gave  particular  attention  to  the  sale  of  his  own  works. 
In  1817  a  writer  in  the  "Analectic  Magazine"  de 
scribed  Weems's  peculiar  methods.  "  Our  readers 
should  know,"  said  the  "  Analectic,"  "  that  he  is  an 
author,  a  peddler  and  a  preacher.  He  writes  a  book, 
carries  it  about  the  country,  holding  forth  a  goodly  ser- 


344  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

mon  in  every  village  and  taking  occasion  to  exhort  all 
manner  of  persons  to  open  their  eyes  and  read  fructify 
ing  books.  The  cart  stands  ready  at  the  door,  and 
after  a  congregation  have  heard  a  sermon  for  nothing 
they  will  seldom  be  so  hard-hearted  as  not  to  pay  for  a 
book."  In  this  and  other  ways  more  than  forty  editions 
of  Weems's  "  Washington  "  were  sold  to  the  American 
people,  and  it  was  found  in  many  homes  in  which  it 
was  the  only  book  except  the  Bible. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  at  the  same  time 
profitable  achievements  in  the  history  of  the  Carey  house 
was  the  republication  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  novels. 
William  A.  Blanchard,  who  was  a  valuable  factor  in 
upbuilding  the  reputation  of  this  house,  used  to  relate 
how,  when  a  young  man,  he  was  sent  away  with  a  stage 
load  of  a  new  "  Waverley,"  sitting  high  on  the  bundles 
of  books  and  travelling  night  and  day  across  New  Jer 
sey  and  over  the  North  River,  in  order  to  deliver  them 
at  the  earliest  possible  hour  to  the  New  York  publish 
ers.  In  those  days  an  English  book  was  for  the  first 
printer  in  America  who  could  get  it  and  place  it  on 
the  market.  International  copyright  there  was  none, 
but  to  obtain  the  advance  sheets  it  was  customary  for 
enterprising  American  publishers  to  make  some  payment 
as  a  slight  douceur  to  the  author.  About  £75  would 
be  paid  for  the  early  sheets  of  a  u  Waverley  " ;  £300 
were  paid  for  Scott's  u  Life  of  Bonaparte,"  and  the 
same  sum  for  Lockhart's  "Life  of  Scott";  but  the 
packet  service  was  so  undependable  that  a  ship  which 
made  its  departure  a  month  after  some  other  vessel  had 
cleared  the  English  coast  might  reach  its  destination 
first.  Thus,  even  when  the  advance  sheets  were  pur 
chased,  there  was  constant  anxiety  lest  a  rival  would 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  345 

procure  the  book.  As  soon  as  the  sheets  were  received, 
compositors  worked  upon  them  day  and  night  and  they 
were  bound  with  the  greatest  speed  to  be  sent  to  market 
with  the  least  possible  delay.  The  Careys  were  the  first 
to  reprint  the  "  Pickwick  Papers,"  issuing  the  parts  in 
this  country  as  soon  as  they  could  be  obtained  from 
England,  and  paying  Dickens  for  the  advance  sheets  of 
all  his  works,  until  after  his  visit  to  this  country  and  his 
failure  to  secure  an  international  copyright  law,  he  re 
fused  in  disgust  to  have  anything  more  to  do  with  such 
a  people  as  the  Americans. 

During  the  visit  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  Dickens 
to  Philadelphia  in  1842  (he  came  a  second  time  in 
1867),  they  presented  a  letter  of  introduction  to  the 
Careys  from  Charles  R.  Leslie,  the  artist,  a  connection 
by  marriage  of  Henry  C.  Carey,  who  tendered  them  a 
reception  at  his  house,  still  standing  at  the  corner  of 
Tenth  and  Clinton  Streets.  All  the  visiting  cards  in 
the  tray  in  the  parlor  were  used  up  for  autographs,  and 
Dickens  expressed  the  opinion  that  they  had  been  ac 
cumulated  for  that  purpose.  Henry  Carey  Baird,  the 
only  guest  of  that  occasion  now  living,  and  at  that 
time  seventeen  years  old,  secured  one  of  these  auto 
graphs,  which  he  still  reveres.  Philadelphia  "  is  a 
handsome  city,  but  distractingly  regular,"  Dickens 
wrote  in  his  "  American  Notes,"  which  were  the  out 
come  of  his  first  visit  to  the  United  States.  "  I  felt 
that  I  would  have  given  the  world  for  a  crooked  street. 
The  collar  of  my  coat  appeared  to  stiffen  and  the  rim 
of  my  hat  to  expand  beneath  its  Quakerly  influence." 

At  one  time,  it  is  stated  by  the  historiographer  of  the 
firm,  the  Carey  house  regularly  published  two  novels  a 
week,  in  addition  to  many  solid  works,  such  as  encyclo- 


346  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

pedias,  biographies,  poems  and  essays.  Among  native 
authors  it  had  Cooper,  Irving,  Poe,  William  Gilmore 
Simms,  John  P.  Kennedy  and  Robert  Montgomery 
Bird.  Early  in  the  forties,  suffering  from  the  great 
panic,  the  house  withdrew  from  the  general  publishing 
trade.  For  several  years  no  book  could  be  sold  unless 
it  was  cheap.  The  firm  had  in  hand  large  stocks  of 
Cooper,  and  as  an  instance  of  the  sudden  change  in  the 
literary  demand,  it  is  related  that  the  boards  must  be 
stripped  from  the  books  and  that  they  must  be  re-cov 
ered  in  paper  before  they  could  be  disposed  of. 

Another  pioneer  in  the  book-trade  in  Philadelphia 
and  in  the  country  at  large,  was  John  Grigg,  who  estab 
lished  in  the  city  what  was  probably  the  largest  book 
distributing  house  in  the  world.  Grigg  was  a  country 
orphan  boy.  When  very  young,  he  went  to  sea  and 
later  lived  successively  in  Virginia,  Ohio  and  Kentucky, 
being  in  the  last  named  state  superintendent  of  a  woolen 
mill.  In  1816  he  came  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Benjamin  Warner,  a  Quaker  book 
seller,  by  whom  he  was  hired  as  a  clerk.  Warner 
dying,  Grigg  closed  out  his  employer's  affairs  in  1823 
and  then  went  into  business  on  his  own  account  in  a 
small  store  in  Fourth  Street  above  Market,  effecting 
revolutions  in  the  book  trade  in  America.  He  soon 
developed  an  important  jobbing  business;  that  is,  whole 
saling  the  books  of  all  publishers  and  distributing  them 
to  retail  dealers  in  every  part  of  the  country.  The 
extension  of  the  public-school  system  is,  perhaps,  as 
much  responsible  as  any  other  one  agency  for  the  re 
markable  growth  of  this  trade. 

Mr.  Grigg  was  a  most  determined  spirit,  a  natural 
bookseller  it  was  often  said,  knowing  by  instinct  what 


JOHN     GRIGG 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  347 

others  seemed  never  to  learn  by  experience.  In  the 
settlement  of  Mr.  Warner's  affairs,  it  was  necessary  for 
him  to  travel  widely.  On  one  occasion,  it  is  related,  in 
evidence  of  the  attention  to  duty  always  characterizing 
him,  he  was  in  Charleston  a  few  days  before  Christmas. 
He  must  be  in  Philadelphia  on  that  day.  When  he 
came  to  Baltimore,  he  found  that  the  boats  had  left  off 
running.  He  turned  then  to  the  mail-coach,  but  it  was 
full,  wherefore  he  must  ride  outside  with  the  driver. 
The  night  was  cold,  the  air  thick  with  sleet,  and  the 
road  miry.  At  Havre  de  Grace  another  driver  took  the 
reins  and,  he  being  unacquainted  with  the  road,  the 
passengers,  fearful  of  their  necks  as  the  coach  plunged 
in  the  mud,  were  in  favor  of  waiting  until  morning. 
Mr.  Grigg  was  determined  that  the  stage  should  go 
forward.  So  he  procured  a  lantern  and,  preceding  the 
coach  to  light  the  way,  piloted  the  vehicle  through  the 
darkness  and  mire  for  two  miles.  Finally  mounting 
the  box  again,  he  took  the  reins  in  his  own  hands  and 
daylight  saw  the  party  at  Elkton.  In  this  way  did  Mr. 
Grigg  arrive  in  Philadelphia  at  the  appointed  time. 

Once  when  a  business  engagement  was  to  be  kept, 
he  was  so  ill  that  he  must  be  carried  to  the  stage-coach, 
and  thus  he  proceeded  to  his  destination  regardless  of 
all  personal  risks  and  dangers.  Almost  military 
promptness  characterized  all  his  business  relations  so 
long  as  he  lived. 

From  time  to  time  Mr.  Grigg  took  into  partnership 
with  him  young  men  who  were  in  his  employ  and  had 
proven  themselves  faithful  to  his  interests.  The  firm  at 
first  was  Grigg  and  Elliott;  then  when  Henry  Grambo 
was  admitted  to  partnership,  Grigg,  Elliott  and  Com 
pany;  and  finally  in  1849  b°tn  Mr.  Grigg  and  Mr. 


348  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Elliott  sold  their  interest  in  the  house  to  Joshua  Bal- 
linger  Lippincott,  a  retail  bookseller  and  publisher  who, 
about  1836,  had  opened  his  store  at  the  southwest 
corner  of  Fourth  and  Sassafras  (Race)  Streets.  The 
firm  now  became  Lippincott,  Grambo  and  Company, 
and  when  Grambo  left  it  in  1855,  J.  B.  Lippincott  and 
Company,  under  which  name  it  established  a  place  as 
one  of  the  great  publishing  houses  of  the  country.  In 
1868  this  firm  began  to  issue  "  Lippincott' s  Magazine," 
and  it  long  continued  its  important  jobbing  business  at 
715  Market  Street. 

Mr.  Lippincott,  the  controlling  power  in  building  up 
the  reputation  of  the  house,  came  of  a  family  which  had 
early  settled  in  southern  New  Jersey.  His  parents  were 
Quakers.  He  was  born  in  1813  and  died  in  1886, 
amassing  much  wealth  in  a  life  assiduously  and  intelli 
gently  devoted  to  the  book-trade,  his  three  sons  being 
the  principal  factors  in  the  company  which  now  conducts 
the  business  of  the  house  in  Washington  Square.  Its 
list  of  publications  includes  many  valuable  encyclopedic 
and  scientific  works,  as  well  as  standard  books  of  all 
classes  of  general  literature  by  American  and  foreign 
authors.  J.  B.  Lippincott  introduced  to  American  read 
ers  "  Ouida's  "  w^orks  and  the  novels  of  Captain  King. 
The  publication  of  Amelie  Rives's  "  Quick  or  the 
Dead  "  was  one  of  the  marked  successes  of  the  maga 
zine,  in  which  the  story  appeared  serially.  The  house 
issued  Allibone's  "  Critical  Dictionary  of  Authors  "  and 
Thomas's  "  Biographical  Dictionary  "  and  "  Gazetteer 
of  the  World  ";  Schoolcraft's  "  Indian  Tribes  "  in  six 
quarto  volumes,  an  authoritative  government  work;  and 
the  American  edition  of  Chambers's  Encyclopedia. 

For  some  time  after  the  Civil  War  practically  its  only 


[.    B.    LIPP1NCOTT 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  349 

rival  in  upholding  Philadelphia's  honor  in  the  publish 
ing  trade  in  the  field  of  general  literature,  was  Porter 
and  Coates,  who  succeeded  to  the  business  of  Willis  P. 
Hazard.  The  firm  afterward  became  Henry  T.  Coates 
and  Company,  its  plates,  rights  and  accumulated  ad 
vantages  being  taken  over  recently  by  the  John  C. 
Winston  Company. 

Neither  Pennsylvania,  nor  indeed  any  colony  or  state, 
had  yet  produced  men  of  great  interest  in  economic 
questions.  A  few  pamphlets  by  Francis  Rawle,  pub 
lished  from  1720  to  1725,  are  believed  to  have  been 
the  first  works  of  this  class  in  Philadelphia.  Tench 
Coxe  was  a  writer  of  authority  during  the  Revolution 
ary  period  and  subsequent  years.  Born  in  this  city 
in  1755,  and  graduating  at  the  College  of  Philadelphia, 
he  entered  his  father's  banking  house,  later  becoming 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  Hamilton  and 
filling  other  government  posts.  He  lived  until  1824, 
publishing  several  volumes  of  economic  and  statistical 
studies,  the  chief  of  which,  "  A  View  of  the  United 
States  of  America,"  was  an  elaborate  discussion  of  the 
material  condition  of  the  country  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

But  these  works  were  of  little  importance  as  con 
tributions  to  economic  science  in  comparison  with  those 
of  Henry  C.  Carey.  Through  him  Philadelphia  won 
the  distinction  of  becoming  the  seat  of  a  certain  body  of 
doctrines  in  political  economy  with  which  the  name  of 
the  city  is  still  inseparably  associated.  Mathew  Carey 
in  his  later  years  had  exhibited  much  interest  in  the 
tariff  question,  and  maintained  an  agitation  which,  if  it 
did  not  establish  his  title  to  consideration  as  a  great 
economist,  testified  in  one  more  way  to  his  pertinacious 


350  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

nature.  It  is  often  assumed  that  Henry  C.  Carey  came 
by  his  love  of  economics  as  naturally  as  did  John  Stuart 
Mill  through  his  father,  James  Mill;  the  father  edu 
cating  the  son.  The  analogy  is  rather  striking  and  the 
principal  difference  is  found  in  the  substance  of  the 
teaching  and  the  fruit  born  of  the  process.  The  Careys, 
both  father  and  son,  were  untaught  or  rather  self- 
taught,  while  the  Mills  had  opportunities  to  secure  the 
philosophical  and  scientific  backgrounds  for  their  writ 
ings. 

Mathew  Carey  put  his  sons  to  work  at  an  early  age. 
His  was  the  gospel  of  labor.  Henry,  the  eldest  son, 
born  in  1793,  was  sent  to  Baltimore  when  twelve  years 
old,  to  superintend  a  branch  of  his  father's  publishing 
house,  and,  upon  coming  of  age  in  1814,  was  made  a 
partner  in  the  business.  In  1819  he  married  a  sister  of 
Charles  R.  Leslie,  the  artist,  and  of  Eliza  Leslie,  the 
novelist.  For  twenty-one  years,  or  until  1835,  when  he 
retired  from  mercantile  life,  he  was  an  active  spirit  in 
the  publishing  trade  in  Philadelphia,  reading  manu 
scripts  and  books,  gaging  the  literary  market  and  devel 
oping  a  taste  for  general  literature,  including  fiction, 
that  he  freely  indulged  so  long  as  he  lived.  He  was 
one  of  the  most  accomplished  publishers  of  his  day  and 
standards  invariably  high  ruled  him  in  all  his  judgments 
and  appreciations.  From  1835  until  his  death  in  1879, 
nearly  forty-five  years,  Henry  C.  Carey  was  a  retired 
gentleman  and  an  economist  whose  theories,  like  Henry 
George's,  another  Philadelphian  by  birth  and  by  resi 
dence  in  early  life,  were  generally  known  even  where 
they  were  not  accepted.  It  is  stated  that  the  younger 
Mr.  Carey  began  his  career  as  a  free-trader,  which  is 
a  fact  rather  difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  theory  that 


HENRY    C.    CAREY 

From  a  photograph  in  possession   of  Mrs.  Harvard   Gardiner 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  35 1 

he  came  by  his  interest  in  social  science  through  his 
father,  to  whom  a  protective  tariff  was  the  beginning 
and  the  end  of  political  economy.  In  any  event,  he  was 
not  slow  or  unemphatic  in  signalling  his  conversion  to 
protection,  which  he  sought  to  give  a  place  in  an  origi 
nal  and  independently  wrought-out  system  of  social 
philosophy.  In  1840  he  completed  his  three  volumes, 
"  The  Principles  of  Political  Economy,"  and  in  1858 
another  three-volume  work,  "  The  Principles  of  Social 
Science."  In  all,  in  his  fifty  years  of  authorship,  Mr. 
Carey  produced  thirteen  octavo  volumes,  3,000  pages 
of  pamphlets,  besides  a  great  amount  of  writing  which 
was  done  without  pecuniary  reward  for  Horace  Greeley 
and  Morton  McMichael  and  appeared  from  time  to 
time  in  the  editorial  columns  of  the  New  York 
"  Tribune  "  and  the  Philadelphia  "  North  American." 
His  works  have  been  translated  into  French,  German, 
Italian,  Russian,  Magyar,  Portuguese,  Japanese  and 
other  languages,  and  they  are  of  such  a  character  as  still 
to  call  for  examination  by  the  economists  of  Europe. 
His  "  Political  Economy "  in  Japanese  has  passed 
through  a  number  of  editions,  and  it  has  been  an  un 
questioned  influence  in  determining  that  government  to 
adopt  a  policy  which  has  brought  the  nation  to  a  posi 
tion  of  wealth  and  independent  power. 

With  the  dogmatism  of  some  of  his  Irish  ancestors 
and  much  of  their  daring  and  inflexibility,  he  discarded 
most  of  the  accepted  doctrines  of  Adam  Smith,  Ricardo, 
Malthus  and  Mill  as  absurdities,  and  erected  a  new 
structure  whose  chief  pillar  was  the  thought  that  popu 
lation  could  increase  and  prosper  indefinitely,  if  the  gov 
ernment  would  isolate  it  commercially  and  a  balance 
were  maintained  between  the  factory  and  the  farm. 


352  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Thus  he  refuted  such  fundamental  and,  as  they  had 
seemed  to  most  investigators,  obvious  economic  princi 
ples  as  the  law  of  diminishing  returns,  Ricardo's  law  of 
rent,  Malthus's  law  of  population,  and  the  wage-fund 
theory.  In  this  way  did  he  combat  free-trade  and  es 
tablish  through  the  agency  of  his  books  and  newspaper 
articles  his  title  to  be  regarded  as  the  founder  of  a 
school  of  American  political  economy  whose  home  was, 
and  is  still  accounted  to  be,  in  Philadelphia,  as  opposed 
to  the  international  English  free-trade  whose  bulwarks 
were  set  up  in  the  colleges  and  universities  of  New 
England. 

Economists  are  noted  beyond  all  other  men,  except 
perhaps  theologians,  for  their  tenacity,  their  prejudices, 
and  oftentimes  their  downright  ill-nature  in  controversy. 
Mr.  Carey,  like  his  father,  throve  in  contention.  He 
was  a  man  of  no  reserves.  He  would  clinch  his  state 
ments  with  strong  and  unfashionable  expletives.  He 
lacked  humor.  He  wrote  rapidly,  often  furiously,  in 
a  hand  which  it  was  difficult  for  the  unpractised  to  de 
cipher.  He  gave  himself  no  physical  recreation  when 
at  work,  save  an  occasional  walk  through  the  spacious 
rooms  of  his  mansion  lined  with  paintings  and  crowded 
book-shelves,  when  he  returned  with  new  ideas  to  be  put 
upon  paper  with  similar  rapidity.  He  published  his 
works  without  thought,  hope,  or  need  of  recompense 
and  on  balance  at  his  death  protection  was  a  large 
debtor  from  whom  nothing  ever  came. 

With  all  his  intellectual  severity,  Mr.  Carey  was  a 
man  of  much  warmth  and  geniality  socially.  He 
snuffed  like  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  and  enjoyed 
his  glass  of  wine.  He  loved  the  opera,  drama  and 
light  literature,  and  his  interests  were  those  of  a  cosmop- 


TITLE  PAGE,  FOURTH  EDITION,  VOLUME  II,  OF  HENRY  C  CAREY'S 
"  POLITICAL  ECONOMY,"  IN  JAPANESE 


354  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

olite.  He  belonged  to  a  number  of  clubs,  including 
one  of  twelve  members  who  met  together  annually 
until  all  but  him  had  gone  to  other  spheres.  Upon  the 
appointed  day,  he  continued  to  dine  alone  for  several 
years,  or  until  his  own  death  at  the  age  of  eighty-six. 
Once  a  week,  on  Sunday  afternoons,  the  leading  men  of 
the  city  gathered  at  his  round  table  in  his  mansion  at 
1 1 02  Walnut  Street.  These  meetings,  called  the 
Carey  Vespers,  before,  during  and  after  the  war, 
were  characterized  by  a  vigorous  discussion  of  national 
problems.  In  1865  General  Grant  was  at  Mr.  Carey's 
house  in  attendance  at  one  of  the  Sunday  "  afternoons. " 
Just  prior  to  his  death  in  1879,  the  combined  ages  of 
Carey  and  three  men  who  met  at  his  home, —  General 
Robert  Patterson,  whose  residence,  at  Thirteenth  and 
Locust  Streets,  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania 
long  occupied;  William  D.  Lewis,  the  banker  and  trans 
lator;  and  Joseph  R.  Chandler,  the  old  editor  of  the 
"  United  States  Gazette," — was  351  years,  or  an  aver 
age  of  nearly  eighty-eight  years  for  each. 

Mr.  Carey's  doctrines,  in  so  far  as  they  justified  a 
protective  tariff,  were  eagerly  embraced  by  politicians 
and  manufacturers,  who  cared  little  enough  for  the 
Ricardian  theory  of  rent  or  the  law  governing  the  in 
crease  of  population  by  a  geometrical  ratio,  and  the 
increase  of  subsistence  by  only  an  arithmetical  ratio. 
These  might  stand  or  fall,  if  there  were  a  scientific  de 
fense  for  the  protection  of  native  industries.  Carey, 
therefore,  found  himself  at  the  head  of  a  large  school  of 
thinkers,  writers  and  agitators.  In  1859,  before  his 
departure  for  Europe,  he  made  a  tour  of  the  eastern 
Pennsylvania  cities.  Accompanied  by  Dr.  William 
Elder,  Morton  McMichael  and  others,  he  visited 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  355 

Scranton,  Pittston,  Wilkesbarre,  Bloomsburg,  Mauch 
Chunk,  etc.,  where  processions  of  miners,  factory  em 
ployees  and  citizens,  mounted  and  on  foot,  fire  com 
panies  and  brass  bands,  followed  his  carriage  through 
the  streets.  In  Philadelphia  his  friends  tendered  him 
a  banquet  at  the  La  Pierre  House  (later  the  Lafayette 
Hotel  on  Broad  Street),  the  leading  hotel  of  the  day. 
At  one  end  of  the  room  was  the  motto,  "  Protection  to 
American  Labor,"  while  in  front  of  Mr.  Carey's  plate 
was  a  locomotive  and  a  train  of  cars  laden  with  coal  and 
pig  iron,  all  ingeniously  constructed  of  sugar  and  choco 
late.  Mayor  Henry  presided  and  Simon  Cameron  and 
other  notabilities  of  the  day  in  political  and  commercial 
life  sat  at  the  board  and  eulogized  him  "  for  the  explo 
sion  of  the  absurd  doctrines  of  Malthus,  Say  and 
Ricardo  in  regard  to  the  inability  of  the  earth  to  meet 
the  demands  of  an  increasing  population. " 

Protection  soon  became  known  as  the  "  Philadelphia 
idea,"  and  newspapers  and  orators  were  at  hand  acri 
moniously  to  discuss  the  question  with  representatives  of 
free-trade  New  England  and  the  free-trade  South. 
The  principal  writers  of  the  Carey  group,  omitting 
several  who  still  live  and  therefore  do  not  come  within 
the  scope  of  this  study,  were  Stephen  Calwell  and  Dr. 
William  Elder. 

Calwell  was  a  West  Virginian  by  birth.  He  was  first 
a  lawyer,  practising  in  Ohio  and  Pittsburg,  but  he  left 
his  profession  to  become  an  iron  manufacturer.  For 
a  time  he  had  furnaces  in  Atlantic  County,  N.  J.,  and 
later  at  Conshohocken,  on  the  Schuylkill,  near  Philadel 
phia,  in  which  city,  at  his  death  in  1871,  he  held  many 
posts  of  honor.  Calwell  wrote  several  treatises  on 
economy  and  finance,  and  Mr.  Carey  said  in  his  eulo- 


356  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

gium  of  the  dead  manufacturer  before  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  that  between  them  there  had 
"  never  been  any  essential  difference/'  There  was 
"  coincidence  of  doctrine  "  reached,  as  Mr.  Calwell  be 
lieved,  by  independent  reasoning.  However  that  may 
have  been,  Mr.  Calwell  was  a  diligent  collector  of 
works  on  economic  subjects  and  an  attentive  reader  of 
them.  His  library  contained  about  5000  volumes  in 
various  languages  which  were  donated,  at  his  death,  to 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  as  were  Mr.  Carey's  at 
his  demise.  When  some  one  commented  upon  the  large 
number  of  books  on  the  subject  of  money  in  his  library, 
and  asked  him  if  he  had  read  them  all,  Mr.  Calwell 
replied :  "  Enough  to  know  that  there  is  really  little  or 
nothing  in  them  of  any  value,"  a  sentiment  that  well 
characterizes  the  rather  arrogant  attitude  of  the  econo 
mist. 

Dr.  William  Elder,  a  Philadelphia  physician,  came 
to  the  city  from  Somerset,  Pa.  He  wrote  and  spoke 
against  slavery  before  the  war,  and  afterward  interested 
himself  in  economic  questions,  being  at  one  time  the 
statistician  of  the  Treasury  Department  at  Washington. 
He  delivered  an  oration,  very  appreciative  of  his  master, 
before  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society  in  1880, 
shortly  after  Mr.  Carey's  death. 

The  Careyites  are  a  small  and  diminishing  coterie  in 
Philadelphia,  but  they  have  the  coherence  and  the  ardor 
of  a  sect.  Their  devotion  to  each  other  and  to  their 
chief,  though  gone  out  of  their  midst,  is  admirable,  and 
their  example  could  be  profitably  copied  by  other  classes 
of  men  in  the  city's  intellectual  group. 

The  Wistar  Parties  had  been  abandoned  in  favor 
of  the  Carey  Vespers,  though  not  before  the  literary 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  357 

and  scientific  lights  of  Philadelphia  had  spent  many 
happy  hours  with  William  Makepeace  Thackeray. 
Thackeray  first  came  to  America  in  1852,  and  again  in 
1855.  On  his  first  visit,  he  stopped  at  the  Girard 
House,  on  Chestnut  Street,  between  Eighth  and  Ninth, 
and  lectured  on  the  "  English  Humorists  "  at  Musical 
Fund  Hall,  in  Locust,  near  Eighth  Street;  on  the  second, 
at  the  La  Pierre  House,  his  subject  being  "  The 
Georges,"  at  Concert  Hall,  on  Chestnut  Street,  near 
Thirteenth.  While  he  had  got  "  smashing  criticisms  " 
at  Boston,  he  was  more  considerately  treated  in  Phila 
delphia,  where  the  autocrats  who  report  lectures  for  the 
newspapers  contented  themselves  with  the  complaint  that 
he  dropped  the  final  "  g  "  of  words  ending  with  "  ing," 
said  "  amiral "  for  "  admiral,"  and  pronounced 
"  humor  "  as  if  it  were  spelled  "  heumour." 

"  Here  in  Philadelphia  it  is  all  praise  and  kindness," 
Thackeray  wrote  an  English  friend.  "  Do  you  know 
there  are  500,000  people  in  Philadelphia?  I  dare  say 
you  had  no  idea  thereof,  and  smile  at  the  thought  of 
there  being  a  monde  here  and  at  Boston  and  New 
York." 

The  monde  for  him  was  made  up  of  several  Philadel- 
phians,  among  them  William  B.  Reed,  William  D. 
Lewis,  Thomas  I.  Wharton,  Professor  Henry  Reed, 
and  Morton  McMichael.  He  met  the  city's  younger 
literary  men  —  George  H.  Boker,  Bayard  Taylor  and 
Charles  Godfrey  Leland,  and  was  taken  to  hear  and 
admire  the  singing  of  Miss  Furness,  Horace  Howard 
Furness's  sister,  later  Mrs.  A.  L.  Wister,  the  translator. 
He  went  to  the  Wistar  Parties,  ate  late  suppers  with 
Morton  McMichael  in  the  oyster  cellars,  which  were 
then  a  feature  of  the  social  life  of  the  city,  enjoying  the 


358  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

curious  oysters  "  and  all  sorts  of  birds  "  served  by  the 
African  waiters,  whose  black  hands  on  the  white  plates 
later  amused  Dean  Hole,  as  well  as  many  another  Eng 
lish  visitor  —  in  short,  as  he  wrote,  "  making  and  re 
ceiving  visits  all  day  long  and  going  out  to  dinner  and 
supper  prodigiously."  Sometimes  he  chanted  his  non 
sense  rhymes  about  "  Little  Billee  "  in  his  inimitable 
way,  and  he  visited  Pierce  Butler,  to  carry  home  to  Fan 
ny  Kemble,  then  in  London,  late  news  of  her  children. 
"  The  prettiest  girl  in  Philadelphia,  poor  soul,  has  read 
4  Vanity  Fair  '  twelve  times,"  said  Thackeray,  in  return 
for  which  he  paid  her  "  a  great  big  compliment  about 
her  good  looks  " ;  and  Kane,  the  Arctic  explorer,  told 
how  he  had  found  one  of  his  seamen  at  a  book  for  many 
hours  which,  upon  investigation,  proved  to  be  "  Pen- 
dennis."  The  Quaker  girls  unsettled  him  completely. 
He  saw  a  Quakeress  at  one  of  his  lectures.  "  Lord ! 
Lord!  how  pretty  she  was!"  he  wrote  afterward. 
4  There  are  hundreds  of  such  everywhere,  airy-looking 
little  beings."  "  The  lectures  are  enormously  suivies," 
wrote  Thackeray  again,  "  and  I  read  at  the  rate  of  a 
pound  a  minute,  nearly."  So  great  a  lion  was  he  in 
the  city  that  his  friends  seriously  proposed  that  he  seek 
the  appointment  of  British  Consul  at  Philadelphia  and 
remain  with  them  forever. 

William  B.  Reed  and  Henry  Reed  were  grandsons 
of  Joseph  Reed,  a  rather  unsatisfactory  and  undepend- 
able  political  character  in  Pennsylvania  during  the  Rev 
olution.  William  B.  was  a  lawyer  who  obtained  a 
prominent  position  at  the  Philadelphia  bar.  He  held 
political  offices,  going  once  on  a  mission  to  China  for 
President  Buchanan,  and  wrote  and  spoke  constantly 
on  various  subjects.  He  was  known  to  Thackeray 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  359 

before  the  latter  reached  the  city,  and  by  some,  though 
likely  without  grounds,  is  supposed  to  have  been  the 
prototype  of  Barnes  Newcome  in  "  The  Newcomes." 
Reed  was  pretty  thoroughly  detested  during  the  war, 
since  he  was  an  active  Copperhead,  and  other  difficulties 
in  the  city  that  had  earlier  honored  him  in  many  ways, 
led  to  his  removal  to  New  York,  where  he  concluded 
his  days  as  a  journalist. 

Henry  Reed  also  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1829,  but  two  years  later  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  made  him  an  assistant  professor  in  the 
College  and  he  soon  rose  to  be  professor  of  rhetoric 
and  English  literature,  a  place  he  held  with  honor  for 
twenty  years.  Professor  Reed  was  undoubtedly  one  of 
the  ablest  men  ever  closely  associated  with  the  Univer 
sity  of  Pennsylvania  on  its  literary  side.  He  corre 
sponded  with  Wordsworth,  Coleridge  and  the  English 
Lake  poets,  of  whom  he  was  a  profound  admirer.  He 
was  known  as  Wordsworth's  chief  American  disciple, 
and  arranged  an  edition  of  that  poet's  verse.  He  had 
long  cherished  the  hope  of  meeting  face  to  face  his 
literary  friends  in  England,  and  in  May,  1854,  leaving 
his  wife  and  children  at  home,  he  embarked  for  Europe 
in  company  with  his  sister-in-law,  Miss  Bronson.  Mrs. 
Reed  and  Miss  Bronson  were  grand-daughters  of  Bishop 
White.  While  in  Europe,  Professor  Reed  and  his 
companion  met  many  distinguished  literary  men,  and 
Thackeray  wrote  to  William  B.  Reed  that  to  see  them 
was  "  like  being  in  your  grave,  calm,  kind,  old  Philadel 
phia  over  again." 

Wordsworth  was  now  dead,  but  they  visited  Mrs. 
Wordsworth,  nearly  eighty-five,  and  she  had  wished 
them  a  pleasant  voyage  as  they  left  "  Rydal  Mount  n 


360  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

for  Liverpool,  to  take  the  "  Arctic  "  on  September  20, 
1854,  for  their  return  journey  to  America.  On  Sep 
tember  ayth,  when  about  sixty-five  miles  from  Cape 
Race,  at  midday  in  a  fog,  the  steamship  collided  with  a 
French  iron  propeller.  Steps  were  taken  to  rescue  the 
200  or  more  persons  on  board  the  French  steamer,  but 
this  was  soon  seen  to  be  impossible,  for  the  wounds  in 
the  hulk  of  the  "  Arctic  "  were  of  the  gravest  kind.  It 
was  sought  to  cover  or  fill  the  holes  with  sails,  mat 
tresses  and  pillows,  but  they  were  too  far  below  the 
water-line;  and  the  vessel,  with  some  250  passengers 
and  a  crew  of  150  or  175  men,  was  doomed  slowly  to 
sink  under  the  waves  with  all  on  board.  The  few  boats 
which  were  launched  were  filled  with  the  engineers, 
deckhands  and  table-waiters.  A  raft,  which  was  made 
from  the  masts  and  yards,  was  so  awkwardly  constructed 
that  the  seventy-six  who  found  refuge  upon  it,  were 
gradually  washed  off  or  died  of  hunger  and  exposure, 
only  one,  a  table-waiter,  McCabe,  being  able  to  cling  to 
it  long  enough, —  twenty-six  hours, —  to  be  sighted  and 
picked  up  by  a  passing  vessel.  Some  two  or  three  score, 
mostly  seamen  and  ship's  employees,  were  saved  in  vari 
ous  ways;  all  the  others  finding  a  common  grave  be 
neath  the  sea.  Henry  Reed  and  Miss  Bronson  perished 
with  the  rest,  after  awaiting  the  end  for  more  than  four 
hours  while  the  ship  sank  inch  by  inch  to  its  destruction. 
McCabe  came  to  Philadelphia  to  tell  William  B.  Reed, 
in  the  presence  of  Morton  McMichael  and  Ellis  Yar- 
nall,  of  his  brother's  fate,  and  the  city  mourned  the  loss 
of  one  who  had  consistently  stood  before  his  students 
and  in  the  community  at  large  as  a  representative  of 
high  and  pure  literary  ideals.  Professor  Reed's  univer 
sity  lectures  were  published  after  his  death,  to  be  ad- 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  361 

mired  and  praised  in  England  as  well  as  in  discriminat 
ing  circles  in  this  country. 

A  man  of  prodigious  learning  and  devout  in  his  atten 
tion  to  the  history  and  development  of  literature,  was 
S.  Austin  Allibone,  who  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in 
1816  and  died  at  Lucerne,  Switzerland,  where  he  is 
buried,  in  1889.  The  volume  of  his  critical  labors  is 
enormous,  but  his  principal  work,  completed  in  1872, 
is  his  "  Dictionary  of  English  Literature  and  British 
and  American  Authors."  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  of 
Boston,  once  spoke  of  the  Dictionary  as  "  that  great 
work  which  is  itself  enough  to  give  celebrity  to  the  city 
in  which  it  was  produced."  Dr.  Allibone  estimated 
that  when  he  began  his  labors  there  were  about  650,000 
books  in  the  English  language.  He  farmed  the  whole 
field,  which  before  he  did  his  work,  said  Dr.  S.  D.  Mc- 
Connell,  in  a  paper  read  to  the  Historical  Society  of 
Pennsylvania  in  1890,  was  "  in  the  same  state  as  was  the 
English  language  before  Dr.  Johnson  did  his."  "  It  is 
not  too  much  to  say,"  Dr.  McConnell  continued,  "  that 
the  names  of  these  two  men  will  survive  while  the  tongue 
lasts.  The  one  traced  out  the  genesis,  arranged  and 
assigned  a  value,  to  its  words;  the  other  did  the  same 
thing  for  its  books.  But  the  amazing  thing  is  that  Dr. 
Allibone's  Dictionary  gives  account  of  five  times  as 
many  whole  books  as  the  great  lexicographer's  does  of 
single  words !  And  it  should  be  remembered  that  Dr. 
Johnson  employed  a  large  staff  of  workers  to  aid  him, 
while  Dr.  Allibone  was  the  sole  compiler  of  facts  and 
criticisms,  and  author  of  the  biographies  of  the  writers 
assembled  in  his  immense  undertaking."  Mrs.  Alli 
bone  copied  the  work  which,  in  manuscript,  covered 
20,000  foolscap  pages. 


362  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Philadelphia's  portion  of  writers  in  medicine  and  nat 
ural  science  was  still  large,  larger,  perhaps,  than  for  any 
previous  generation.  In  medicine  the  list  includes 
Jacob  M.  DaCosta,  Samuel  D.  Gross,  D.  Hayes  Agnew, 
George  B.  Wood  and  William  Pepper. 

Dr.  DaCosta,  who  was  born  in  the  Danish  West 
Indies,  was  educated  both  in  Europe  and  America,  grad 
uating  at  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  in  Philadelphia, 
where  he  began  his  practice  in  1854,  attaining  a  promi 
nent  local  position  which  became  national  and  interna 
tional.  His  interest  was  in  general  medicine,  and  he 
wrote  a  number  of  scientific  works  which  have  been 
widely  translated. 

Dr.  Gross  was  a  Jefferson  graduate  also,  and  a  teacher 
in  that  college  of  a  somewhat  earlier  period.  Born 
near  Easton,  Pa.,  he  practiced  and  taught  for  nearly 
twenty-five  years  in  Ohio  and  Kentucky,  being  appointed 
professor  of  surgery  at  Jefferson  in  1856,  an  office 
which  he  held  almost  to  the  time  of  his  death  in  1884. 
He  was  incessantly  active  as  a  translator,  editor  and 
writer,  and  made  many  original  contributions  to  his 
science.  His  works  have  gone  through  many  editions 
in  many  languages.  He  was  a  D.C.L.  of  Oxford  and 
an  LL.D.  of  Cambridge,  honors  which  indicate  the 
esteem  in  which  he  was  held  in  other  lands. 

Agnew,  the  University's  great  surgeon,  was  a  native 
of  Lancaster  County,  who  had  been  a  country  physician 
for  several  years  and  then  entered  the  iron  business  until 
a  panic  led  him  to  return  to  his  profession.  He  came 
to  Philadelphia  in  1848,  attaining,  during  the  war,  a 
high  reputation  for  his  skill  in  the  soldiers'  hospitals  at 
Hestonvillc  and  Chestnut  Hill.  In  1870  he  was  made 
professor  of  surgery  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  363 

from  which  he  had  graduated  thirty-two  years  before. 
He  was  one  of  the  surgeons  called  to  President  Gar- 
field's  bedside  to  perform  the  operation  whereby  it  was 
hoped  that  his  life  might  be  saved  to  the  nation,  defeat 
ing  the  assassin's  purposes.  His  principal  literary 
work  is  a  valuable  three-volume  "  Treatise  on  the  Prin 
ciples  and  Practice  of  Surgery." 

Dr.  George  B.  Wood  came  of  a  Quaker  family  of 
New  Jersey.  He  graduated  both  in  the  college  and 
medical  school  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  where 
he  was  for  many  years  a  professor  in  the  medical  fac 
ulty.  He  wrote  a  history  of  the  University,  in  addition 
to  many  works  upon  medicine  and  pharmacy.  In  1859 
he  became  the  President  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  and  was  rightly  regarded  at  his  day  as  one  of 
the  city's  leading  scientists. 

Dr.  William  Pepper  was  a  greater  figure  than  any 
other  man  identified  with  medicine  in  Philadelphia 
in  his  time,  largely  because  of  the  wide  range  of 
his  public  interests  and  his  executive  and  organ 
izing  faculty,  which  no  other  citizen  since  Franklin 
has  possessed  in  so  remarkable  a  degree.  In  estab 
lishing  the  University  Hospital,  a  medical  jour 
nal,  free  city  libraries,  a  commercial  museum,  a  society 
for  the  extension  of  University  teaching,  and  various 
schools  and  scientific  expeditions  in  connection  with  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  of  which  he  became  the 
Provost  in  1881,  the  works  he  is  remembered  by  are 
as  numerous  as  Franklin's  and  are  no  less  vital  to  the 
intellectual  civilization  of  the  city  that  was  the  scene  of 
his  useful  and  active  life.  Through  his  executive  talent, 
his  devotion  to  duty,  and  his  high  educational  ideals,  the 
University,  under  his  direction,  gained  an  eminence  as 


364  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

a  seat  of  learning  which  it  had  never  held  before.  His 
public  work,  various  and  exacting  as  it  was,  was  per 
formed  seemingly  without  cost  to  his  reputation  as  a 
scientist  or  as  a  private  practitioner  of  medicine.  His 
writings  were  voluminous  and  his  practice  large  and 
valuable.  The  son  of  William  Pepper,  a  well-known 
Philadelphia  physician,  he  was  distinctly  of  the  city  in 
which  he  dwelt,  and  few  have  done  more  that  was  of 
practical  and  lasting  value  for  its  intellectual  advance 
ment. 

In  the  natural  sciences  the  city  continued  to  produce 
investigators  of  the  first  class,  such  as  Isaac  Lea,  Joseph 
Leidy,  Edward  D.  Cope  and  Daniel  G.  Brinton.  Isaac 
Lea,  the  son-in-law  of  Mathew  Carey  and  for  many 
years  the  head  of  the  Carey  publishing-house,  was  of 
Quaker  descent,  having  been  born  in  Wilmington,  Del. 
He  forfeited  his  membership  in  the  Society  of  Friends, 
during  the  War  of  1812,  by  joining  a  military  company 
that  was  never  called  into  service.  His  leisure,  while 
he  was  a  publisher,  and  all  his  time  after  his  retirement 
from  business  until  his  death  in  1886,  when  he  was 
nearly  ninety-five  years  old,  were  devoted  to  the  study  of 
shells  and  fossils.  For  several  years  he  was  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  which  con 
tinued  to  be  the  gathering-point  for  naturalists  of 
marked  devotion  and  ability.  One  of  his  most  interest 
ing  discoveries  was  the  existence  of  Saurian  footprints 
in  the  red  sandstone  many  hundreds  of  feet  below  the 
coal  measures  at  Pottsville,  where  air-breathing  forms 
were  never  found  before.  His  scientific  writings  were 
as  numerous  as  they  were  important  and  he  made  known 
to  the  world  many  hundreds  of  new  species,  recent  and 
fossil.  Mr.  Lea's  services  caused  his  name  to  be  known 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  365 

widely  and  favorably  among  naturalists  in  all  countries. 

Joseph  Leidy,  who  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in  1823, 
made  himself  one  of  the  world's  great  biologists.  He 
was  connected  with  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  for 
many  years.  His  paleontological  studies  placed  him  in 
the  first  rank  among  scientists.  He  was  the  author  of 
hundreds  of  published  papers  descriptive  of  his  scientific 
discoveries.  Like  Mr.  Lea,  Leidy  was  President  of 
the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  doing  much  to  in 
crease  the  world's  knowledge  of  natural  history. 

Edward  Drinker  Cope  was  a  grandson  of  Thomas 
P.  Cope,  a  well-known  Philadelphia  merchant  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Born  in  1840,  he  was  educated  at 
the  Quaker  School  at  Westtown,  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  and  in  Europe.  !He  also  was  a  paleon 
tologist,  and  put  his  researches  to  use  in  the  explanation 
and  development  of  the  theory  of  evolution.  In  this 
field  of  study  he  reached  a  position  of  authority  and  his 
work  causes  his  name  to  be  associated  honorably  with 
those  of  Darwin,  Huxley,  Spencer,  Lamarck,  Weis- 
mann,  and  the  leading  evolutionary  philosophers  of  the 
world. 

Daniel  G.  Brinton,  a  Chester  Countian,  was  an 
archaeologist  and  ethnologist,  the  value  of  whose  work 
compelled  recognition  in  two  hemispheres.  He  studied 
medicine  in  Philadelphia,  after  graduating  at  Yale,  and 
was  a  surgeon  in  the  Civil  War.  While  still  in  college, 
he  interested  himself  in  anthropology  and  ethnology, 
and  made  exhaustive  studies  of  the  American  Indians 
which  are  a  monument  to  his  learning  and  an  honor  to 
the  neighborhood  in  which  he  worked. 

In  law,  the  leading  names  are  those  of  Eli  K.  Price, 
a  Chester  Countian  who  rose  to  much  distinction  at  the 


366  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

Philadelphia  bar,  and  George  Sharswood.  Sharswood  re 
established  the  law  school  at  the  University  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  wrote  various  treatises,  and  edited  and  compiled 
many  legal  works.  At  the  same  time,  he  was  a  judge  in 
the  Philadelphia  courts  and  later  in  the  state  Supreme 
Court.  He  was  perhaps  the  most  accomplished  jurist 
Pennsylvania  had  produced;  at  any  rate,  since  the  Revo 
lutionary  time,  when  American  lawyers  were  educated  in 
London,  where  they  acquired  a  notion  of  the  history  and 
philosophy  of  their  subject  and  were  made  acquainted 
with  the  principles  of  jurisprudence. 

The  church  in  this  period  yielded  at  least  two  names 
which  cannot  be  passed  in  a  literary  history  of  the  city : 
Albert  Barnes,  long  the  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  on  Washington  Square;  and  Phillips  Brooks, 
from  1859  to  1869  the  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Ad 
vent  and  of  Holy  Trinity.  Barnes  was  a  native  of 
New  York  State,  who  studied  theology  at  Princeton. 
He  was  a  prolific  writer,  and  of  his  "  Notes  "  on  the 
Scriptures,  which  were  adapted  for  the  use  of  Sunday 
Schools,  more  than  one  million  copies  had  been  sold  be 
fore  1872.  His  collected  works  fill  many  volumes. 
He  was  once  tried  for  heresy,  and,  although  acquitted, 
was  induced  to  change  some  passages  in  his  writings 
supposed  to  be  unsound. 

Phillips  Brooks,  whose  first  parishes  were  in  Phila 
delphia,  here  laid  the  foundations  for  his  brilliant  career 
in  pulpit  oratory.  He  quickly  met  with  appreciation. 
A  native  of  Boston,  he  returned  thither  in  1869  to  lead 
the  largest  and  wealthiest  congregation  in  the  city  and 
to  become  at  length,  in  1891,  the  Bishop  of  Massachu 
setts  in  spite  of  his  "  low  church  "  views,  which  were 
believed  to  bar  him  from  it.  He  was  destined,  how- 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  367 

ever,  to  live  but  two  years  to  occupy  his  great  spiritual 
office. 

Philadelphia  has  long  been  foremost  in  providing 
daring  spirits  for  the  exploration  of  the  Arctic  regions, 
and  two  pioneers  were  Dr.  Elisha  Kent  Kane  and  Dr. 
Isaac  Israel  Hayes. 

To  them  the  North  Pole  called  loudly  and  they  pen 
etrated  latitudes  at  that  time  untraversed  by  any  white 
man,  bringing  down  to  more  genial  climes  much  useful 
and  interesting  knowledge  concerning  a  forbidden  land, 
though  at  a  heavy  cost  of  privation  and  hardship  and 
amid  dangers  that  again  and  again  proved  nearly  fatal. 

Elisha  Kent  Kane  was  the  son  of  Judge  John  K. 
Kane,  a  prominent  lawyer,  politician  and  publicist  who 
in  his  day  attended  the  Wistar  Parties,  and  was  ac 
counted  one  of  the  city's  intellectual  lights.  He  lived 
at  Fern  Rock,  near  Fanny  Kemble's  and  Lucretia  Mott's 
York  Road  homes,  in  a  stone  house  which  is  now  a  part 
of  a  summer  hotel.  Elisha,  after  taking  a  course,  that 
was  interrupted  by  illness,  at  the  University  of  Virginia, 
studied  medicine  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
upon  his  graduation,  in  1843,  became  a  surgeon  in  the 
Navy.  He  had  travels  and  experiences  the  most  varied, 
adventurous  and  dangerous,  in  Mexico,  China,  Egypt, 
mid-Africa,  India  and  the  Philippines. 

Once,  on  the  Island  of  Luzon,  he  was  lowered  by  a 
bamboo  rope  into  the  crater  of  a  volcano,  penetrating 
its  interior  to  a  depth  of  several  hundred  feet  amid 
great  heat  and  sulphurous  fumes  that  almost  stifled  him. 
When  raised  to  the  surface  by  his  companions  he  was 
not  readily  revived,  though  he  had  brought  with  him 
specimens  and  drawings  of  the  crater  that  he  considered 
amply  compensating  for  the  hazardous  experience. 


368  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

He  was  severely  wounded  by  a  spear  in  the  thigh 
during  the  Mexican  War,  while  protecting  Mexican 
prisoners  from  a  band  of  American  renegades  who, 
having  captured  their  foes,  sought  now  to  massacre 
them  in  cold  blood,  for  which  service  his  fellow  Phila- 
delphians  on  his  return  presented  him  with  a  handsome 
sword.  Like  Mayne  Reid,  he  was  for  a  while  given  up 
for  dead  and  news  of  his  safety,  when  it  was  received, 
was  welcomed  everywhere. 

About  this  time  the  sympathies  of  the  world  were 
highly  wrought  up  concerning  the  fate  of  Sir  John 
Franklin,  a  British  Polar  traveller  who  had  gone  out  on 
his  fourth  and,  as  it  proved,  his  final  expedition  in  May, 
1845,  with  two  vessels  and  136  men.  After  waiting 
long  and  vainly  for  his  return  or  for  information  as  to 
his  fate,  various  attempts  to  effect  his  rescue  having  been 
made  by  English  explorers  and  navigators,  Lady  Frank 
lin  appealed  to  America,  and  Henry  Grinnell,  a  wealthy 
whale-oil  dealer  of  New  York,  offered  and  fitted  out 
two  of  his  vessels,  the  "  Advance  "  and  the  "  Rescue," 
for  a  polar  trip,  if  the  government  would  semi-officially 
sanction  the  enterprise.  Lieutenant  E.  J.  De  Haven 
was  assigned  to  command.  Dr.  Kane  volunteered  for 
the  service,  being  appointed  the  senior  medical  officer 
of  the  expedition.  Little  was  achieved  by  this  party. 
It  left  for  the  north  in  May,  1850,  remained  in  the  ice 
during  the  following  winter  and  returned  in  the  summer 
of  1851  with  Kane's  appetite  well  whetted  for  a  greater 
performance. 

Mr.  Grinnell  now  gave  him  the  "  Advance,"  a  brig 
of  1 20  tons'  burden,  for  a  second  expedition,  and,  pat 
ronized  also  by  George  Peabody  and  several  learned 
societies,  he  secured  the  official  recognition  of  the  Navy 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  369 

Department  for  the  momentous  voyage  of  search  and 
discovery  which  nearly  ended  the  lives  of  the  com 
mander  and  all  his  eighteen  men.  His  destination  was 
the  highest  attainable  point  of  Baffin's  Bay,  up  to  that 
time  an  unexplored  region.  He  left  New  York  in  May, 
1853,  wintered  north  of  the  78th  parallel  of  latitude, 
and  flying  sledge  parties  crossed  the  Soth  parallel,  the 
explorer  making  many  scientific  observations  on  these 
journeys.  But  from  his  situation  Kane  could  not  es 
cape.  The  ice  around  his  brig  remained  unbroken  dur 
ing  the  next  summer  and  the  outlook  seemed  to  be  cer 
tain  destruction  for  the  entire  party.  Long  trips  were 
ineffectual  in  bringing  them  aid,  and  a  number  of  his 
men  abandoned  him,  only  to  be  forced  to  return  to  the 
ship  after  two  or  three  months  of  aimless  wandering, 
during  which  time  they  suffered  terrible  privations. 
The  second  winter  was  passed  amid  bitter  cold,  with  the 
scurvy,  chilblains  that  called  for  the  amputation  of  mem 
bers,  famine,  little  relieved  by  the  friendliness  of  some 
miserable  Esquimaux;  incessant  darkness,  lack  of  fuel, 
and  the  sickness  of  men  and  dogs.  All  these  things 
made  the  salvation  of  the  party  seem  to  depend  upon  a 
miracle. 

Finally,  in  May,  1855,  they  left  the  vessel,  dragged 
their  boats  over  the  ice  for  sixty  miles,  and  then  em 
barking,  navigated  them  amidst  floating  ice  and  other 
perils  for  1,000  miles  to  the  nearest  Danish  settlements 
in  Greenland,  which  they  reached  in  forty-five  days, 
there  to  meet  the  vessels  sent  by  the  United  States  gov 
ernment  for  their  relief.  They  arrived  in  New  York 
on  October  n,  1855,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  two 
years  and  a  half,  during  which  time  world-wide  anxiety 
was  felt  for  their  safety. 


370  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Kane  was  now  a  hero  of  the  first  magnitude.  He 
had  come  back  safely  with  most  of  his  men,  the  records 
of  his  trip,  and  one  of  the  small  boats,  the  "  Faith," 
which  they  had  dragged  over  the  ice  so  far  and  which 
was  later  to  be  exhibited  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition 
in  Philadelphia  —  all  else  was  left  in  the  land  of  cold. 
He  was  invited  to  England,  where  Lady  Franklin  of 
fered  him  a  beautiful  home  for  his  own  use,  and  the 
English  government  proposed  to  fit  out  another  expedi 
tion  for  him  to  pursue  the  search  for  the  ill-fated  ex 
plorer.  He  went  to  Europe  in  1856,  but  he  was  unfit 
for  further  Arctic  exploration.  His  health  was  irre 
parably  shattered  and  he  embarked  for  the  West  Indies, 
where  he  died  the  next  February,  a  victim  of  consump 
tion,  inflammatory  rheumatism,  paralysis,  a  heart 
trouble,  with  which  he  had  always  been  afflicted,  and 
other  diseases,  the  price  of  such  treatment  of  the  hu 
man  body. 

The  Spanish  authorities  showed  him  every  mark  of 
honor  and  attention.  The  remains  were  taken  to  New 
Orleans,  to  lie  in  state  in  the  City  Hall  under  military 
guard,  and  then  up  the  Mississippi  and  the  Ohio. 
There  were  impressive  ceremonies  witnessed  by  throngs 
of  people  at  Louisville,  New  Albany,  Ind.,  Cincinnati, 
Columbus,  Wheeling  and  Baltimore,  state  and  city  offi 
cers  co-operating  to  lend  dignity  to  the  progress  of  the 
corse,  which  reached  Philadelphia  on  March  nth,  to  be 
escorted  through  the  streets  by  the  City  Troop  and 
guarded  by  the  Washington  Greys  while  it  lay  in  Inde 
pendence  Hall.  Wrapped  in  his  country's  flag,  buried 
in  flowers,  and  with  the  sword  which  his  fellow-citizens 
had  presented  him  for  his  exploit  in  the  Mexican  War 
upon  his  coffin,  the  young  explorer  was  carried  to  Laurel 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  371 

Hill,  his  pall-bearers  including  the  governor,  the  mayor, 
and  the  most  distinguished  men  of  Pennsylvania. 

Dr.  Kane  was  but  thirty-seven  years  old;  and  only 
thirty-three  when  he  entered  the  Arctics  in  command  of 
the  "  Advance."  He  was  a  slight  man,  never  weighing 
more  than  130  pounds,  and  much  of  the  time  his  weight 
was  not  above  100  pounds.  His  eye  was  penetrating 
and  intrepid,  and  his  whole  manner  absolutely  fearless, 
a  quality  that  made  up  for  a  figure  which  seemed  not  to 
favor  him  as  a  leader  of  men  upon  dangerous  expedi 
tions. 

The  account  of  his  first  trip  to  the  north  with  De 
Haven,  illustrated  by  John  Sartain  and  other  artists, 
was  published  by  Harpers  in  New  York;  but  the  narra 
tive  describing  his  own  "  Arctic  Explorations:  The  Sec 
ond  Grinnell  Expedition  in  Search  of  Sir  John  Frank 
lin  1853,  '54,  '55,"  in  two  volumes,  was  brought  out  in 
1856  by  Childs  and  Peterson  in  Philadelphia,  who 
afterward  bought  the  plates  of  the  first  book.  No  work 
of  the  kind  by  a  Philadelphian,  with  the  possible  excep 
tion  of  John  Russell  Young's  "  Around  the  World  with 
General  Grant/'  had  such  popularity,  or  gained  so  great 
a  circulation.  For  the  first  year,  Dr.  Kane's  royalties 
were  $65,000,  making  large  profits,  too,  for  the  pub 
lishers,  the  foundation  of  the  fortune  of  George  W. 
Childs.  It  was  adapted  perfectly  for  the  book  agent, 
who  carried  it  into  every  part  of  the  Union.  It  is  ab 
sorbing  reading  today  and  a  valuable  record  of  Arctic 
experiences,  even  when  Polar  journeys  are  less  unusual 
and  we  hear  and  read  of  them  with  diminishing  zest. 
He  wrote  of  his  adventures,  explorations  and  suffer 
ings  with  commendable  simplicity,  modesty  and  unself 
ishness.  All  classes  were  touched  by  his  story,  but  the 


372  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

task  of  producing  it  was  too  arduous  for  a  frame  that 
already  contained  the  seeds  of  fatal  disease. 

Before  he  embarked  upon  his  expedition,  Kane  began 
to  show  attentions  to  Margaret  Fox,  one  of  the  Fox 
sisters  who  gave  exhibitions  in  many  cities  of  the  re 
markable  "  spirit  rappings,"  the  news  of  which  swept 
the  country  and  brought  forward  great  numbers  of  spir 
itualistic  mediums.  Kane  persuaded  Margaret,  when 
she  was  about  seventeen,  to  give  up  this  career,  and  he 
sent  her  to  school  near  Chester,  Pa.,  with  a  view  to  edu 
cating  her  to  be  his  wife.  His  relatives  opposed  the 
arrangement,  but  after  his  death  she  called  herself  Mrs. 
Kane,  asserting  that  she  and  the  explorer  had  been  mar 
ried  for  all  the  purposes  of  law,  and  making  a  claim 
upon  his  estate.  At  his  funeral  one  of  the  handsomest 
of  the  floral  pieces  was  a  wreath,  the  offering  of  "  Two 
Ladies  " —  Margaret  Fox  and  her  sister  Kate. 

Dr.  Isaac  Israel  Hayes  was  a  native  of  Chester 
County.  He  graduated  in  medicine  at  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  just  in  time  to  join  Kane  on  the  fa 
mous  expedition  of  1853.  He  led  or  joined  the  group 
of  men  who  left  the  ship  at  the  approach  of  the  second 
winter.  They  made  a  long  boat  journey  toward  the 
South,  which  Kane  used  all  his  influence  to  discourage, 
and  were  forced  at  length  to  return,  after  excruciating 
sufferings,  to  share  the  lot  of  their  fellows.  Dr.  Hayes, 
upon  coming  back  to  civilization,  wrote  a  book  to  justify 
this  abandonment  of  his  commander,  and  immediately 
instituted  a  movement  to  fit  out  an  expedition  of  his 
own.  After  the  loss  of  Franklin  and  the  misfortunes 
of  Kane,  the  world  revolted  at  the  thought  of  further 
sacrifice  of  life  in  the  Arctics.  Nevertheless,  Hayes  lec 
tured  before  learned  societies  in  many  cities  and  wrote 


LATER  WRITERS  AND  EVENTS  373 

in  behalf  of  his  project  until  he  succeeded  in  securing  a 
small  sailing  vessel,  which  left  Boston  for  Greenland 
on  July  6,  1860. 

The  boat  was  loaded  with  supplies  until  its  deck  was 
only  eighteen  inches  above  the  water  line.  The  party 
consisted  of  fifteen  men,  the  number  being  increased 
later  by  some  Danes  and  Esquimaux,  and  before  winter 
arrived  it  had  reached  a  point  only  twenty  miles  south 
of  the  latitude  which  Kane  occupied  with  his  little  ves 
sel.  Hayes  found  milder  weather  and  made  a  sledge 
journey,  which,  if  his  observations  were  right,  entitle 
him  to  the  honor  of  coming  nearer  to  the  Pole  than  any 
previous  explorer.  There  he  planted  a  small  United 
States  flag  which  had  accompanied  Wilkes  to  the  South 
Pole  and  both  De  Haven  and  Kane  on  their  Arctic  ex 
peditions,  afterward  shown  with  the  "  Faith  "  and  other 
relics  at  the  Philadelphia  "  Centennial." 

Hayes  returned  to  Boston  in  the  fall  of  1861,  after 
having  been  absent  more  than  fifteen  months,  to  find  the 
country  in  the  throes  of  the  Civil  War,  whereupon  he 
at  once  enlisted  as  a  surgeon  on  the  Union  side.  The 
book  describing  his  travels  did  not  appear  until  1867. 
He  believed  with  Kane  that  there  was  an  open  sea 
around  the  Pole  which  man  could  reach  if  he  were  able 
to  carry  boats  across  the  surrounding  belt  of  ice. 
Hayes's  discoveries  and  writings  attracted  much  less  at 
tention  than  Kane's.  He  was  not  so  direct  and  vivid  a 
writer,  nor  was  he  so  modest  in  his  statements  and 
claims.  He  passed  his  later  life  in  New  York,  where 
he  attained  some  distinction  in  politics,  and  where  he 
died  in  1881  in  his  fiftieth  year. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE    PENNSYLVANIA   POETS 

Four  younger  men  of  the  Pennsylvania  soil  found 
their  geniuses  comfortably  nurtured  in  the  literary  at 
mosphere  of  Philadelphia,  while  the  city  was  still  a 
considerable  centre  for  authors  and  publishers:  Bayard 
Taylor  and  Thomas  Buchanan  Read,  the  sons  of  Ches 
ter  County  farmers;  George  H.  Boker,  the  son  of  the 
old  president  of  the  Girard  Bank;  and  Charles  Godfrey 
Leland.  All  these  men  gained  their  courage  in  writing 
for  the  Philadelphia  magazines,  whose  editors  very  lib 
erally  patronized  their  budding  talents.  Taylor  nar 
rowly  escaped  being  the  principal  editor  of  "  Gra 
ham's,"  and  he  was  for  a  while  its  co-editor  and  diligent 
contributor.  Boker  and  Read  wrote  much  for  the  mag 
azine;  and  Leland  had  an  important  monthly  commis 
sion  for  u  Sartain's;  "  and  later,  after  its  fall,  made  a 
valiant  but  vain  attempt  to  revive  "  Graham's,"  of 
which  he  was  for  some  time  the  editor.  In  truth,  it  may 
be  said  that  all  four  of  these  Pennsylvanians,  whose 
work  adds  so  much  lustre  to  the  name  of  the  state  in 
literature,  were  discovered  and  put  upon  the  right  way, 
if  they  were  not  actually  made,  by  the  eager,  active  liter 
ary  life  which  then  flourished  in  Philadelphia. 

Bayard  Taylor  was  the  largest  figure  in  this  group  of 
writers,  and  he  barely  missed  being  as  great  a  character 
in  American  letters  as  Lowell,  Longfellow,  Whittier, 
or  Poe,  if  indeed  he  would  not  be  accounted  their  equal 

374 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  375 

in  a  just  balance  of  men.  Nothing  seems  to  have  pre 
vented  his  attainment  to  one  of  the  highest  of  places 
but  the  slowness  of  his  literary  development,  the  pres 
sure  of  the  newspaper  office  and  the  lecture  platform, 
an  almost  lifelong  struggle  with  tastes  that  were  too 
expensive  for  a  poet,  the  diversity  of  his  literary  inter 
ests  and  attentions,  and  a  too  early  death. 

Taylor  was  named  for  James  Bayard,  the  Delaware 
senator  of  that  day,  the  James  being  dropped  before 
his  literary  career  was  far  advanced.  He  was  born  in 
1825,  of  parents  who  had  Quaker  leanings  and  con 
nections,  in  a  prosperous  Quaker  neighborhood,  near 
Kennett  Square  in  southern  Chester  County.  He  had 
no  educational  opportunities  not  afforded  by  a  rural 
community  which,  whatever  its  true  condition,  has 
boasted  from  the  earliest  times  of  an  intelligence  and  a 
conscience  somewhat  quicker  than  those  of  other  Amer 
ican  neighborhoods.  He  spent  his  boyhood  upon  a 
farm  and,  while  his  father  was  the  sheriff  of  the  county, 
attended  an  academy  in  West  Chester,  the  county  seat. 
A  little  subsequent  training  at  the  Unionville  Academy 
completed  his  education  under  schoolmasters,  and  after 
teaching  for  so  brief  a  time  that  the  experience  may  be 
left  out  of  the  account,  he  was  apprenticed  for  four 
years  to  the  publisher  of  the  "  Village  Record,"  the 
leading  county  paper. 

Already  he  was  writing  verses,  which  found  their  way 
to  the  "  Saturday  Evening  Post "  in  Philadelphia,  then 
edited  by  Rufus  W.  Griswold,  who  was  at  the  same 
time  associated  with  Mr.  Graham  in  the  editorial  man 
agement  of  his  magazine.  To  "  appear  "  in  "  Gra 
ham's,"  the  young  Chester  County  poet  told  Mr.  Gris 
wold,  was  his  "  highest  ambition,"  and  it  was  finally 


376  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 


gratified  in  June,  1843,  when  he  was  therefore  but 
eighteen  years  of  age.  It  was  a  boyish  effusion,  to  be 
sure,  called  "  Modern  Greece,"  but  it  contained  a  prom 
ise  of  better  things  in  lines  like  these:  — 

"  The  ancient  spirit  has  not  fled, 

But  brighter  still  will  burn, 
Though  long  the  world  had  mourned  above 

Her  desolated  urn  ; 
New  bards  will  rise  to  rival  yet 

The  Theban  song  of  fire, 
And  Homer's  soul  reanimate 

The  voiceless  Grecian  lyre." 

Griswold  delighted  the  young  man  by  asking  him  to 
send  more  poems  and  to  call  when  he  was  in  the  city, 
which  he  did  eagerly.  In  Graham's  office  Taylor  met 
Thomas  Buchanan  Read  for  the  first  time,  although 
they  were  born  and  reared  not  many  miles  from  each 
other.  Already  nourishing  an  ambition  to  publish  a 
book,  Griswold  encouraged  Taylor  to  bring  out  a  slen 
der  little  volume  of  fifteen  titles,  "  Xirnena,  and  Other 
Poems,"  and  to  his  patron  it  was  dedicated  as  "  an 
expression  of  gratitude  "  for  the  "  kind  encourage 
ment  "  which  had  been  given  a  young  man  who  claimed 
"  no  further  merits  "  for  his  verses  than  that  they  were 
"  the  sincere  and  fervent  effusions  of  his  heart." 

Taylor  was  bound  for  four  years  by  his  contract  with 
the  "  Village  Record,"  but  he  chafed  under  the  re 
straint  and  yearned  for  the  sight  of  foreign  countries. 
He  first  thought  to  go  to  the  West  Indies,  but  his  plans 
were  revised  to  cover  a  trip  to  Europe.  How  to  ob 
tain  the  money  for  such  a  journey  perplexed  him.  His 
little  volume  had  made  him  a  figure  on  the  lower  slopes 


BAYARD    TAYLOR 
From  Eastman  Johnson's  portrait   in   possession   of  Mrs.   Bayard   Taylor 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  377 

of  Parnassus  and  he  walked  to  Philadelphia,  procured 
fifty  dollars  in  cash  from  Mr.  Patterson,  who  then  pub 
lished  the  "  Saturday  Evening  Post,"  for  twelve  letters 
to  that  periodical ;  the  same  sum  from  Joseph  R.  Chan 
dler  for  a  like  service  for  the  "  United  States  Gazette  " ; 
while  Mr.  Graham  purchased  several  poems  for  his 
magazine,  thus  giving  Taylor  a  total  capital  of  $140. 
He  bought  his  remaining  time  from  the  proprietor  of 
the  "  Village  Record,"  and  in  1844  went  to  New  York 
with  his  cousin,  Frank  Taylor,  to  embark  for  England. 
In  that  city  he  met  N.  P.  Willis,  who  introduced  him 
to  several  prominent  editors,  but  only  one,  Horace 
Greeley,  entered  into  an  arrangement  with  him,  and 
that  was  conditional.  Greeley  had  had  a  surfeit  of 
descriptive  letters,  he  said  in  his  blunt  manner,  but  if 
they  were  "  sketches  of  German  life  and  society  "  he 
thought  he  might  find  a  place  for  them  in  the  "  Trib 
une." 

The  travellers'  passage  cost  them  ten  dollars  each, 
second  cabin,  and  with  a  knapsack  on  his  back  Bayard 
Taylor  covered  a  large  part  of  Western  Europe,  his 
letters  bringing  him  a  reputation  in  America  and  about 
$500,  with  which  he  managed  to  remain  away  two 
years.  Advised  upon  his  return  to  issue  them  in  a  book, 
his  "  Views  Afoot  "  appeared  under  the  auspices  of  a 
New  York  publishing  house  in  1846.  Six  editions  were 
sold  in  the  first  year  and  many  printings  were  called  for 
subsequently. 

It  may  have  seemed  not  a  natural  thing  for  so  suc 
cessful  a  young  writer  to  become  the  editor  of  a 
country  paper  in  a  little  town  near  his  native  place,  but 
this  was  Taylor's  next  adventure.  With  a  friend  he 
invested  in  a  small  weekly  journal  at  Phoenixville, 


378  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Chester  County,  about  twenty-five  miles  north  of  Phila 
delphia,  on  the  Schuylkill  River.  The  first  number  of 
the  Phoenixville  "  Pioneer,"  as  it  was  rechristened,  was 
issued  on  December  29,  1846.  From  childhood  Taylor 
and  Mary  Agnew,  a  neighbor's  daughter  at  Kennett, 
had  loved  each  other,  and  he  wished  to  obtain  the 
means,  while  being  not  too  far  away  from  her,  to  bring 
their  little  romance  to  a  happy  result.  At  first,  Phoenix 
ville,  in  spite  of  its  noisy  iron  mills,  attracted  him. 
"  Notwithstanding  this  is  a  manufacturing  place,"  he 
wrote  to  Mary  Agnew,  "  there  is  a  great  deal  of  poetry 
about  it.  The  scenery  is  beautiful  and  the  mills  and 
furnaces  which  are  in  operation  all  night  make  a  grand 
appearance  with  their  columns  and  clouds  of  red  flame. 
The  sound  of  the  forges  ringing  out  through  the  live 
long  night  keeps  me  constantly  in  a  fitting  spirit  to  work 
and  think  and  struggle." 

It  is  plain  to  be  seen  that  Phcenixville  was  not  very 
favorable  ground  for  the  kind  of  a  paper  which  Taylor 
would  be  pleased  to  edit,  and  instead  of  advancing  his 
fortunes  and  bringing  him  near  to  his  wedding-day,  the 
experiment  failed  pretty  miserably,  and  he  came  out  of 
it  with  debts  that  it  took  him  three  years  to  discharge. 
Earlier  he  had  written  to  Greeley  asking  for  a  place 
on  the  "  Tribune,"  and  that  man  in  his  frank  way  had 
replied:  "  My  own  judgment  is  that  you  will  do  ill  in 
leaving  work  secure  and  ready  to  your  hands  to  hunt 
work  in  any  of  the  unhealthy  crowds  congregated  on 
the  sea  coast.  Life  is  very  hurried  and  fretful  in  a 
great  city."  Nevertheless,  in  due  time,  a  place  was 
found  for  him  and  thus  commenced  a  connection  that 
was  continued  as  an  editor,  critic,  correspondent,  or 
stockholder  until  his  death.  He  was  personally  visited 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  379 

by  Samuel  D.  Patterson  after  Mr.  Graham's  misfor 
tune,  and  besought  to  take  an  important  editorial  posi 
tion  on  "  Graham's  Magazine,"  and  to  be  near  his  home 
and  the  woman  he  loved  he  accepted,  although  the  finan 
cial  position  of  the  periodical  was  then  such  that  the 
offer  finally  dwindled  to  a  non-resident  co-editorship, 
little  more  than  the  use  of  his  name  on  the  covers  and 
prospectuses. 

He  worked  fifteen  hours  a  day  on  the  "  Tribune," 
writing  all  manner  of  things,  and  having  but  one  night 
in  seven  that  he  could  do  with  as  he  liked.  During  the 
gold-mining  excitement  in  California  in  1849,  ne  went 
to  the  Pacific  Coast,  by  way  of  the  Isthmus,  for  his 
newspaper,  to  find,  upon  his  return,  the  subject  of  his 
pretty  Chester  County  romance  wasting  away  with  the 
consumption  which  had  long  before  lain  hands  upon 
her,  and  which  now  pointed  to  her  death  at  no  very 
distant  time.  The  marriage  day  had  been  often  post 
poned  and  the  ceremony  was  performed  upon  what  was 
practically  her  death-bed  in  October,  1850;  she  died  in 
December  and  he  was  left  a  sorrowing  and  for  a  time 
a  bitterly  discouraged  man. 

In  New  York,  Taylor  belonged  to  a  group  of  literary 
people  whose  friendship  was  life-long,  the  principal  of 
these  being  Richard  Henry  Stoddard.  He  occasionally 
visited  New  England  where  Lowell,  Longfellow  and 
the  Cambridge  poets  made  much  of  him,  and  in  Phila 
delphia,  George  H.  Boker  was  his  close  and  intimate 
friend.  After  another  trip  abroad,  which  was  ex 
tended  to  India,  China  and  Japan,  he  became  a  lecturer 
of  great  popularity  on  the  American  platform.  His 
newspaper  letters  had  made  his  name  known  widely, 
especially  in  the  west  where,  as  he  said,  "  the  '  Tri- 


38o  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

bune '  comes  next  to  the  Bible."  He  delivered  about 
one  hundred  lectures  in  1854  and  a  still  greater  number 
in  the  following  year,  a  "  miserable  business,"  as  he 
wrote  to  his  friend  Stoddard — "Crammed  houses: 
women  carried  out  fainting;  young  ladies  stretching 
their  necks  on  all  sides  and  crying  in  breathless  whis 
pers,  *  There  he  is!  That's  him.''  It  was  all  en 
dured  that  he  might  obtain  the  money  to  raise  himself 
above  daily  want  and  devote  his  life  to  poetry  un- 
dividedly. 

The  next  tour,  including  a  trip  on  reindeer-drawn 
sledges  through  Lapland  and  journeys  over  Sweden  and 
Norway,  resulted  in  his  second  marriage.  While  trav 
elling  up  the  Nile  he  had  for  his  companion  a  German 
explorer  named  Bufleb.  This  friend  now  provided  a 
house  for  his  residence  at  Gotha  and  put  him  in  the  way 
of  receiving,  in  Germany,  social  attentions  and  honors 
that  were  greatly  enjoyed.  He  in  a  few  months 
(1857)  married  Marie  Hansen,  Mr.  Bufleb's  niece  arid 
the  daughter  of  Hansen,  a  well-known  astronomer. 

Returning  to  America  Taylor  devoted  himself  to  the 
building  of  a  handsome  home  of  the  proportions  of  an 
English  manor-house  on  an  estate  near  Kennett  Square. 
It  had  early  been  his  ambition  to  erect  "  a  beautiful 
homestead  in  Kennett  "  where  life  would  be  "  a  sweet 
dream  of  poetry,"  where  there  would  be  "  no  golden 
threads  snapped,  no  fast  ripening  fancies  trodden  under 
foot  by  contact  with  coarse  and  jarring  natures."  The 
wish  was  now  about  to  be  gratified  in  "  Cedarcroft." 
He  had  become  one  of  the  stockholders  of  the  New 
York  "  Tribune,"  which  paid  handsome  dividends,  the 
owner  of  valuable  copyrights,  an  industrious  magazine 
writer  and  a  popular  lecturer.  He  told  Boker  in  Feb- 


SONNET  ADDRESSED  TO  GEORGE  H.  BOKER  BY  BAYARD  TAYLOR,  HANG 
ING  IN  THE  FRANKLIN  INN  CLUB,  THE  GIFT  OF  MRS.  TAYLOR 


382  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

ruary,  1860,  that  in  the  preceding  eighteen  months  he 
had  delivered  270  lectures. 

But  "  Cedarcroft,"  which  was  ready  for  occupancy  in 
May,  1860,  was  built  expensively  and  the  cost  very 
much  exceeded  the  estimates;  it  was  inaccessible,  even 
more  so  at  that  day  than  at  this;  the  war  ensued  and 
lecturers  as  well  as  writers  were  for  a  time  at  the 
mercy  of  the  elements;  and  neither  at  first  nor  after 
ward  was  Taylor  destined  to  get  from  his  beautiful  home 
the  enjoyment  which  he  anticipated.  It  was  indeed 
the  instrument  of  his  undoing.  The  expense  of  main 
taining  such  an  establishment  was  fatal.  Many  of  his 
literary  friends  *  found  their  way  to  "  Cedarcroft  " 
and  were  made  happy  by  its  owner's  princely  hospitality; 
but  he  had  been  accustomed  by  travel  and  many  years  in 
a  newspaper  office  to  a  busier  life,  and  his  contentment 
was  not  increased  by  several  months  more  in  Europe 
during  the  war,  as  secretary  of  Simon  Cameron,  Min 
ister  to  Russia;  and  later,  when  Cameron  returned 
home,  as  Charge  at  St.  Petersburg.  "  A  leaf  falls 
from  the  orange  tree  in  the  box  and  it  sounds  almost 
like  a  crash,"  he  wrote  in  the  midst  of  the  country  still 
ness.  "  Now  a  chicken  flaps  its  wings  and  now  again 
there  is  only  the  scratch  of  this  pen  to  be  heard  in  all 
the  world  around  me."  He  had  expected  to  spend  the 
winters  in  New  York,  but  on  grounds  of  economy  it 
was  necessary  to  make  "  Cedarcroft  "  his  permanent 
home  and  he  chafed  under  the  restraints  of  his  rural 
exile. 


*  Among  them  Sidney  Lanier  the  young  southern  poet  whom 
Taylor  admired  and  encouraged.  Lanier  was  in  Philadelphia  in  the 
seventies,  an  interesting  member  of  Gibson  Peacock's  literary  and 
artistic  circle,  and  he  lived  for  two  summers  at  Chad's  Ford  in 
southern  Chester  County. 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  383 

The  slaves  being  freed,  the  leaders  at  Longwood 
made  the  neighborhood  resound  with  the  demand  for 
other  reforms,  and  Kennett  became  a  kind  of  Pennsyl 
vania  Concord  where  the  principles  of  correct  living 
were  preached  assiduously.  Taylor  wrote  with  some 
bitterness  in  his  "  Home  Pastorals :  " — 

"  Gone  are  the  olden  cheer,  the  tavern  dance  and  the  fox  hunt, 
Muster  at  trainings,  buxom  lasses  that  rode  upon  pillions, 
Husking  parties  and  jovial  home-comings  after  the  wedding  — 
Gone  as  they  never  had  been !     And  now  the  serious  people 
Solemnly  gather  to  hear  some  wordy  itinerant  speaker 
Talking  of  Temperance,  Peace  or  the  Right  of  Suffrage  for 

Women. 

Sport  that  once  like  a  boy  was  equally  awkward  and  restless 
Sits  with  thumb  in  his  mouth  while  a  petulant  ethical  bantling 
Struts  with  his  rod  and  threatens  our  careless  natural  joy- 

ance." 

The  repressions  of  Quakerism  now  irked  Taylor's 
spirit.  He  had  become  a  comfortable  eater  and  drinker 
and  could  not  thrive  upon  an  ethical  discussion  by  some 
professional  reformer,  as  many  seemed  to  do.  His 
ways  were  not  those  of  any  large  part  of  his  neighbors, 
a  people  seeking  perfection,  and  rather  intolerant  of 
those  who  looked  upon  life  as  a  time  for  anything  but 
a  serious  struggle  against  the  natural  impulses. 

"  Given  to  preaching  of  rules,  inflexible  outlines  of  duty; 
Seeing  the  sternness  of  life,  but  also,  overlooking  its  graces." 

He  came  back  a  man  who  was  not  as  they : — 

"  Was  it  my  fault,  if  a  strain  of  the  distant  and  dead  gen 
erations 

Rose  in  my  being,  renewed,  and  made  me  other  than  these  are? 
They,  content  with  the  glow  of  a  carefully  tempered  twilight, 


384  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Measured  pulses  of  joy,  and  colorless  growth  of  the  senses, 
Stand  aghast  at  my  dream  of  the  sun,  and  the  sound,  and  the 
splendor." 

The  Kennett  people  were  only  half-proud  of  Taylor, 
with  all  his  fame,  and  they  maintained  a  relationship 
which  if  it  may  have  done  credit  to  neither  side  was 
probably  unavoidable.  Greeley's  presidential  cam 
paign  and  death  deprived  the  poet  of  his  income  from 
the  "  Tribune  "  and  at  a  time  when  he  hoped  to  be  at 
ease,  indulging  the  muse,  he  must  return  to  active  news 
paper  pursuits  and  exert  himself  in  every  possible  way 
as  a  writer  and  lecturer  to  meet  his  financial  obligations. 
Comfortable  relations  with  the  world  seemed  about  to 
be  re-established  when  President  Hayes  appointed  him 
Minister  to  Germany,  but  he  died  in  a  few  months  after 
reaching  Berlin,  in  1878  and  was  brought  home  to  be 
buried  with  distinguished  honors  at  Longwood  beside 
Mary  Agnew. 

"  Cedarcroft,"  which  had  been  leased,  was  finally  sold 
and  such  an  estate  in  such  a  situation  has  never  found 
a  use.  It  is  at  this  writing  on  the  point  of  being  con 
verted  into  a  school  after  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  make 
of  it  a  memorial  to  the  greatest  poet  which  Pennsyl 
vania  has  thus  far  produced. 

Taylor  was  a  poet  pre-eminently  and  this  he  desired 
to  be,  although  his  pen  was  active  in  many  fields.  He 
wrote  essays,  books  of  travel,  short  stories,  novels  and 
translated  from  the  German,  notably  Goethe's  "  Faust." 
The  accounts  of  other  travellers  have  superseded  his, 
as  popular  as  they  at  one  time  were;  and  his  novels  are 
not  generally  read,  although  "  The  Story  of  Kennett  " 
deserves  to  be.  It  is  one  of  the  great  American  novels 
and  will  not  soon  lose  its  title  to  this  place.  "  Hannah 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  385 

Thurston,"  his  first  long  story,  was  a  satire  on  the  re 
formers  of  Chester  County.  "  John  Godfrey's  For 
tunes  "  was  an  allusion  to  his  own  life  in  New  York. 
"  The  Story  of  Kennett,"  his  "  pet  novel,"  as  he  called 
it,  a  simple  narrative  of  country  happenings  some  fifty 
years  earlier  in  his  own  community  —  the  fox  chase, 
the  husking  bee,  the  flood  in  the  Brandywine,  the  feats 
of  a  daring  highwayman,  and  the  adventures  of  the 
heart  of  a  worthy  man,  and  a  true  and  honest  girl, — 
was  as  successful  as  an  absorbing  well-told  story,  as  it 
was  as  a  transcript  of  life  in  an  American  neighborhood. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  Taylor's  poetry  which  lasts  and  will 
endure  —  by  that  is  he  particularly  to  be  remembered. 
He  regretted,  and  his  friends  complained  and  will  con 
tinue  to  complain,  that  his  situation  did  not  allow  him  to 
give  poetry  his  undistracted  attention.  It  was  always 
his  ambition  to  enjoy  the  leisure  and  ease  which  would 
permit  him  to  devote  his  time  exclusively  to  this  high 
art  and  this  was  one  of  his  motives  in  building  himself  a 
home  at  Kennett.  Its  completion  was  followed  by  a 
poetic  outburst  in  some  way  expressive  of  his  peaceful 
delight,  but  the  demands  of  the  great  estate  were  par 
alyzing  and  the  time  which  he  had  to  devote  to  poetry 
afterward  was  broken  in  upon  by  engagements  the  most 
various  and  disturbing. 

Taylor  was  a  most  exacting  critic  of  his  own  work, 
and  in  the  later  editions  of  his  poems  only  the  pure  gold 
remained.  He  discarded  the  children  of  his  early  fancy 
one  by  one,  and  none  could  go  forth  as  his  which  did 
not  meet  the  fullest  approval  of  his  mature  years.  He 
wrote  to  Longfellow  in  1866,  expressing  a  truth  which 
he  did  not  try  to  conceal.  "  My  former  works,"  he 
said,  "  are  simply  so  many  phases  of  an  education  which 


386  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

circumstances  have  compelled  me  to  acquire  in  the  sight 
of  the  public.  I  had,  in  fact,  very  little  early  educa 
tion  except  that  of  travel;  I  began  to  publish  (it  was 
inevitable)  much  too  soon;  and  moreover  I  am  de 
scended  from  two  hundred  years  of  Quaker  farmers 
whose  transmitted  slowness  of  maturity  I  have  hardly 
yet  overcome.  The  artistic  sense  was  long  dormant 
and  is  only  at  present  becoming  fairly  active;  I  am  per 
haps  ten  years  behind  a  man  who  has  had  more  favor 
able  antecedents  and  opportunities. "  There  was  in  this 
too  much  depreciation  of  self.  'He  had  already  written 
his  "  Bedouin  Song,"  which  Robert  Browning  knew 
by  heart  and  recited  to  him  in  England  in  1856,  saying 
it  was  the  finest  thing  he  had  ever  read,  and  which 
begins:  — 

"  From  the  desert  I  come  to  thee 

On  a  stallion  shod  with  fire, 

And  the  winds  are  left  behind 

In  the  speed  of  my  desire. 
Under  thy  window  I  stand, 

And  the  midnight  hears  my  cry; 
I  love  thee,  I  love  but  thee 

With  a  love  that  shall  not  die  — 
Till  the  sun  grows  cold, 
And  the  stars  are  old, 
And  the  leaves  of  the  Judgment  Book  unfold." 

There  is  verse  in  the  later  collections  of  Taylor's 
work,  so  sedulously  and  jealously  excluding  as  they  do 
everything  hinting  at  mediocrity,  which  will  survive  so 
long  as  poetry  is  a  living  form  of  art. 

George  Henry  Boker,  Taylor's  close  friend  and  inti 
mate  companion,  had  different  opportunities  in  youth. 
He  was  the  son  of  Charles  S.  Boker,  a  wealthy  Phila- 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  387 

delphia  merchant  and  banker,  and  was  sent  to  Princeton, 
where  he  graduated  in  1842  while  Taylor  was  still  a 
farm  boy.  He  studied  law,  but  surprised  his  friends 
by  announcing  that  he  would  devote  his  life  to  litera 
ture,  an  unusual  resolve  for  a  young  man  of  his  wealth 
and  social  position.  His  verse  early  began  to  appear 
in  "  Graham's  Magazine,"  and  his  inclinations  very 
soon  led  him,  to  select  the  poetic  drama  as  his  favorite 
form  of  expression.  He  was  fond  of  classical  models 
and  his  studies  of  Shakespeare  and  the  masters  in  this 
field  inspired  him  to  the  most  ambitious  undertakings. 
When  no  more  than  twenty-five,  his  Spanish  tragedy, 
"  Calaynos,"  based  upon  the  hatred  felt  by  the  Castil- 
ians  for  those  whose  veins  contain  the  blood  of  the 
Moors,  was  put  upon  the  stage  in  England,  winning  its 
author  much  appreciation. 

He  later  wrote  "  Anne  Boleyn,"  "  The  Betrothal," 
and  "  Francesca  da  Rimini."  Despite  the  difficulty  of 
doing  a  work  which  at  once  challenged  damaging  com 
parisons  with  the  great  poets,  Boker  achieved  notable 
results.  Lawrence  Barrett  revived  his  "  Francesca," 
estimated  to  be  the  best  of  the  various  dramas  founded 
on  this  theme,  thirty  years  after  it  was  written,  and  gave 
it  so  pleasing  a  presentation  for  several  seasons,  that  it 
has  come  to  occupy  a  vital  place  in  English  dramatic 
literature.  And  his  other  dramatic  poems  will  long  be 
read  as  poetry  if  they  are  not  seen  in  our  theatres  as 
plays.  Boker  had  not  the  spontaneous  abundant  flow 
of  poetry  that  characterized  Taylor  or  the  New  Eng 
land  leaders,  but  some  of  his  writings,  as  "  The  Podes- 
ta's  Daughter,"  "  The  Ivory  Carver  "  and  "  I  Have  a 
Cottage,"  are  of  the  greatest  excellence.  They  are 
poetic  visions  of  a  great  artistic  mind  expressed  with 


388  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

the  highest  skill.  He  obeyed  the  demands  of  old  and 
unpopular  forms  rather  too  much,  as  in  the  sonnet  of 
which  he  was  so  fond  and  in  which  he  was  so  expert  a 
craftsman.  Despite  some  servility  to  his  models,  his 
work  had  much  general  appreciation  wherever  poetry 
was  read;  and  from  his  fellow-poets,  his  genius  drew 
forth  unquestioned  tributes  of  admiration  and  praise. 
In  "  I  Have  a  Cottage,"  in  which  there  is  so  much  of 
beauty  that  to  make  a  choice  of  passages  is  an  ungrate 
ful  service,  Boker  wrote :  — 

"  I  have  a  cottage  where  the  wild  bee  comes 
To  hug  the  thyme  and  woo  its  dainties  forth ; 
Where  humming  birds,  plashed  with  the  rainbow's  dyes, 
Poise  on  their  whirring  wings  before  the  door 
And  drain  my  honeysuckles  as  at  a  draught. 
Ah,  giddy  sensualist,  how  thy  blazing  throat 
Flashes  and  throbs,  while  thou  dost  pillage  me 
Of  all  my  virgin  flowers!" 

There  was  shrewd  and  humorous  observation  as  well 
as  poetic  imagery  in  Boker's  work.  In  the  beautiful 
allegory  of  the  Christian  religion,  "  The  Ivory  Carver," 
he  wrote  of  Anselm,  the  spiritual  young  priest :  — 

"  Why  he  was  not  a  bishop  at  least, 
Or  something  more  than  a  common  priest, 
Is  a  shrewd  question  we'll  not  press  home  — 
They  don't  make  bishops  of  saints  at  Rome. 
Sometimes  a  bishop  becomes  a  saint; 
But  that  is  after  the  fleshy  taint 
Has  well  worn  off  in  the  grave's  decay, 
And  anything  can  be  made  from  clay; 
Saints,  poets,  heroes  —  the  thing's  all  one  — 
A  scratching  of  pens,  and  the  work  is  done." 


From   a  portrait  presented   to   the  Franklin    Inn    by  Mrs.    George  Bokcr 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  389 

There  is  a  picturesque  vigor  in  the  opening  lines  of 
"The  Legend  of  the  Hounds:"— 

"  Colebrook  furnace  in  Cornwall  stands, 
Crouched  at  the  foot  of  the  iron  lands  — 
The  wondrous  hill  of  iron  ore 
That  pours  its  wealth  through  the  furnace  door, 
Is  mixed  with  lime  and  smothered  in  wood, 
Tortured  with  fire  till  a  molten  flood 
Leaps  from  the  taps  to  the  sow  below 
And  her  littered  pigs  that  round  her  glow, 
So  that  a  gazer,  looking  down 
The  moulding  floor  from  the  platform's  crown, 
Might  think,  if  fancy  helped  the  spell, 
He  saw  a  grate  in  the  roof  of  hell." 

That  he  could  write  very  successfully  in  a  lyrical  vein 
is  shown  by  his  poem,  "  The  River  and  the  Maiden," 
which  is  concluded  as  follows :  — 

"  Crowd  yon  river  with  your  barges  — 

All  the  navies  of  the  main  — 
Till  the  loaded  tide  enlarges, 
Till  it  bursts  its  wonted  marges, 

Deluging  the  pleasant  plain! 

"  Freight  them  with  the  precious  plunder 

Of  the  lands  beyond  the  sea  — 
Pearls  that  make  the  diver  wonder, 
All  the  virgin  silver  under 

The  great  hills  of  Potosi ; 

"  All  the  real  and  fabled  riches 

Of  the  haughty  Persian  Khan, 
All  the  gold  that  so  bewitches 
All  the  gorgeous  broidered  stitches 
Of  the  girls  of  Hindoostan; 


390  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

"  All  the  furs,  the  wines,  the  treasures, 

Were  they  at  my  bidding  laid, 
Ten  times  doubled  in  their  measures, 
Ten  times  doubled  in  their  pleasures, 

I  would  rather  have  the  maid!  " 

Boker  was  one  of  the  founders  and  long  an  officer, 
Secretary  and  later  President,  of  the  Union  League. 
He  had  begun  as  a  Democrat,  following  Buchanan  and 
subsequently  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  until  the  war  came 
to  develop  his  strong  Unionist  sympathies.  A  number 
of  his  war  poems  were  published  in  a  small  volume  by 
Ticknor  and  Fields  and  they  breathe  forth  patriotism 
warmly.  In  1871  General  Grant  appointed  him  Min 
ister  to  Turkey  and  the  Union  League  tendered  him  a 
dinner,  which  was  attended  by  many  men  of  distinction. 
Boker's  friend,  Bayard  Taylor,  was  present  and  read  an 
after-dinner  poem. 

"  I  know  that  lustrous  eyes  are  sometimes  seen 

Through  garden  leaves  and  latticed  window  bars, 
And  fear  some  twin  Circassian  stars  may  wean 
His  fealty  from  our  seven-and-thirty  stars." 

This  was  one  of  Taylor's  stanzas  which  were  warmly 
received  by  the  diners.  Boker  was  later  transferred 
from  Constantinople  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  was  at  the 
Russian  Court  when  Taylor  was  at  Berlin.  He  was 
greatly  honored  in  St.  Petersburg  and,  when  he  was 
recalled  in  1879,  the  Russian  Minister  of  Foreign  Af 
fairs,  in  receiving  his  successor,  is  reported  to  have  de 
clared,  rather  more  truthfully  than  diplomatically: 
"  I  cannot  say  I  am  glad  to  see  you.  In  fact,  I'm  not 
sure  that  I  see  you  at  all  for  the  tears  that  are  in  my 
eyes  on  account  of  the  departure  of  our  friend  Boker." 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  391 

Boker  lived  at  1720  Walnut  Street.  Until  his  death 
in  1890,  he  was  a  familiar  figure  in  Broad  Street,  Chest 
nut  Street  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Philadelphia  Club, 
of  which  he  was  long  the  President.  N.  P.  Willis  once 
described  him  as  the  handsomest  man  in  America.  Tall 
and  imposing  in  stature,  with  a  ruddy  complexion  and 
a  military-looking  mustache,  he  was  much  remarked 
wherever  he  went.  His  poetic  output  was  not  large, 
if  we  exclude  his  tragedies,  not  great  enough  to  leave 
very  much  if  it  had  been  subjected  to  the  pruning  pro 
cess  which  Taylor  so  heroically  applied  to  his  work  and 
which  Boker's  needed  not  less  than  his  friend's. 

With  a  muse  of  much  less  vigor  than  Taylor's  and 
Boker's,  although  a  most  fluent  and  prolific  writer, 
Thomas  Buchanan  Read  takes  his  place  in  the  group 
of  Pennsylvania  poets.  A  pleasing  versifier  with  a 
naturally  poetic  sense,  his  work  covered  a  wide  gamut 
of  subjects,  but  yields  little  that  reads  as  well  today  as 
many  thought  it  did  at  the  time  it  was  penned.  Read 
was  born  in  1822  in  the  broad  Chester  Valley  in  Ches 
ter  County,  in  the  shadow  of  the  blue  hills  of  Uwchlan, 
in  a  cottage  still  standing  near  Downingtown. 

"  Between  broad  fields  of  wheat  and  corn 
Is  the  lowly  home  where  I  was  born ; 
The  peach  tree  leans  against  the  wall 
And  the  woodbine  wanders  over  all." 

Hard  by  flowed  the  Brandywine,  that  stream  of 
which  Read  sang:  — 

"  Not  Juniata's  rocky  tide 
That  bursts  its  mountain  barriers  wide, 
Nor  Susquehanna,  broad  and  fair; 
Nor  thou,  sea-drinking  Delaware, 


392  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

May  with  that  lovely  stream  compare 
That  draws  its  winding  silver  line 
Through  Chester's  storied  vales  and  hills, 
The  bright,  the  laughing  Brandywine 
That  dallies  with  its  hundred  mills." 

Read's  parents  were  in  the  humblest  walks  of  life, 
and  when  his  father  died,  the  boy  was  apprenticed  to  a 
tailor.  He  quickly  left  that  trade  to  become  a  cigar- 
maker  in  Philadelphia,  and  a  little  later  went  to  Cin 
cinnati  where  a  married  sister  dwelt.  His  condition  did 
not  immediately  improve,  but  feeling  a  natural  draw 
ing  to  art,  he  was  taken  into  the  family  of  S.  V.  Cleven- 
ger,  a  cutter  of  tombstones,  who  had  become  a  sculptor 
of  some  eminence.  Read,  however,  preferred  paint 
ing  to  sculpture  and  his  first  employment  was  as  a  wan 
dering  sign-painter,  gradually  advancing  to  portraits. 
The  field  for  an  artist  in  the  Cincinnati  of  that  day 
being  quite  restricted,  he,  in  1841,  returned  to  the  east, 
settling  for  a  while  in  Boston  where  Longfellow  noticed 
his  poetry  and  Washington  Allston  his  art. 

In  1846  he  came  to  Philadelphia  and  opened  a  por 
trait  studio,  at  the  same  time  contributing  many  poems 
to  "  Graham's  Magazine,"  which  had  the  effect  of  mak 
ing  his  name  known  widely  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 
His  first  book  of  poems  appeared  in  1847  and  was 
rapidly  followed  by  other  volumes.  Much  of  his  work 
was  praised  extravagantly  by  his  admirers  and  as  round 
ly  denounced  as  valueless  by  those  to  whom  his  school 
of  poetry  made  no  appeal.  A  writer  in  "  Sartain's 
Magazine, "  in  1852,  in  a  learned  critique,  branded  him 
as  a  "  New  Laker,"  the  "  most  innocent/'  of  the  tribe, 
one  of  the  multitude  of  feeble  imitators  of  Wordsworth, 
all  "  perfumed,  gloved  and  ladylike."  Read  had  be- 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  393 

gun  with  work  that  showed  "  evidence  of  indwelling 
poetry/'  said  the  critic,  but  he  had  gone  off  in  "  the  pur 
suit  of  mere  wordy  conceits  with  a  mistaken  notion  that 
quaintness  and  verbal  platitudes  are  wisdom  and  beau 
ty,"  relying  "  on  Fancy  to  accomplish  what  lies  legiti 
mately  within  the  province  of  a  higher  power,  Imagi 
nation."  He  "  sings  artificially  for  artificial  audiences 
and  on  artificial  themes,"  the  critic  continued,  and  his 
readers  feel  "  no  inspiring  warmth  "  in  their  hearts,  and 
"  no  tears  spontaneously  suffuse  "  their  eyes  as  they  fol 
low  him.  Read  sat  "  at  the  threshold  "  of  the  "  New 
Lake  school  "  in  which  "  many  interesting  young  men 
in  soiled  linen  and  damsels  in  hair  papers  erect  fabrics 
of  American  poetic  ginger-bread." 

On  the  other  hand,  many  critics  and  particularly  the 
"  Lakers  "  in  England,  found  much  to  admire  in  Read. 
Leigh  Hunt  described  "  The  Closing  Scene  "  in  a  lead 
ing  British  review  as  "  the  only  American  poem  we 
have  read  or  could  read  over  and  over  again.  It  merits 
the  fame  that  Gray's  celebrated  elegy  has  obtained  with 
out  deserving  it  nearly  so  well."  Thackeray  thought 
"  The  Icebergs,"  the  best  of  modern  ballads  and,  in 
truth,  much  of  Read's  verse  was  as  keenly  enjoyed  in 
England  as  in  this  country.  After  1850  he  spent  much 
time  in  Italy,  and  during  the  cholera  epidemic  in  Flor 
ence  in  the  summer  of  1855,  his  wife  and  favorite 
daughter,  Lilian,  died. 

"  The  sun  was  white  in  all  the  streets  of  Florence 
The  splendor  burned  upon  the  bridge  and  river, 
While  Fate  rained  down  her  pestilence  in  torrents, 
Bereaving  me  forever." 

He  fled  to  a  watering-place  in  the  mountains  where 
he  consoled  himself  in  writing  "  The  Song  of  the  Sea." 


394  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Returning  to  America,  Read  married  Miss  Harriett 
Dennison  Butler  and  established  his  home  in  this  city. 
He  had  a  studio  for  some  time  in  Parkinson's  Build 
ing  on  Chestnut  Street,  above  Tenth,  but  our  Civil  War 
found  him  in  Italy  again,  and  full  of  patriotic  ardor  he 
returned  to  serve  on  the  staff  of  General  Lew  Wallace 
and  write  inspiring  war  poems  for  James  E.  Murdoch, 
the  Philadelphia  tragedian  and  elocutionist,  which  were 
read  at  sanitary  fairs  and  at  benefit  entertainments  for 
the  wounded  soldiers.  "  The  Wagoner  of  the  Alle- 
ghenies,"  a  long  poetic  tale  of  the  Revolutionary  time, 
was  begun  some  years  earlier,  but  it  was  essentially  an 
appeal  to  the  patriotic  feeling  of  the  American  people. 
His  poem,  "  The  Oath,"  was  much  used  in  mustering 
in  the  volunteers  and  conscripts.  Lincoln  called  it 
"  The  Swear." 

Of  our  war  president,  Read  had  had  a  vision  in  the 
Thirty-Fourth  Book  of  "  The  New  Pastoral,"  a  lengthy 
work  in  narrative  verse  descriptive  of  life  in  eastern 
Pennsylvania  and  the  West,  of  which  much  was  expect 
ed.  It  was  produced  from  1850  to  1854  and  in  it  Read 
wrote :  — 

"  Here  in  the  middle  of  the  nation's  arms, 
Perchance  the  mightiest  inland  mart  shall  spring  — 
Here  the  great  statesman  from  the  ranks  of  toil 
May  rise  with  judgment  clear,  as  strong  as  wise, 
And  with  a  well-directed  patriot  blow 
ReclJnch  the  rivets  in  our  Union  bands 
Which  tinkering  knaves  have  striven  to  set  ajar." 

One  night  during  the  war,  Murdoch  was  reading 
Read's  poems  in  the  Senate  Chamber  in  Washington. 
He  had  closed  with  "  The  Oath,"  the  President,  with 


portrait  painted   by  himself  ivlicn   about  tliirty-scren  years  of  age 
Franklin  Inn   collection 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  395 

other  high  officers  of  the  government,  having  places  in 
the  audience.  The  next  night  Lincoln  was  again  pres 
ent.  "  The  Oath  "  being  omitted,  he  sent  up  a  request 
for  the  poem.  Murdoch  pleaded  that  he  did  not  have 
it  with  him,  whereupon  Lincoln  remarked,  "  Oh, 
I  have  '  The  Swear '  in  my  pocket,"  and  taking  it  out, 
it  was  handed  to  the  elocutionist  who  read  it  amid  the 
acclamation  with  which  it  was  always  received.  Read's 
reputation  as  a  poet  was  widely  extended  by  these  popu 
lar  readings  of  his  works.  He  was  in  Cincinnati  with 
his  brother-in-law,  Cyrus  Garrett,  Murdoch  and  some 
other  friends,  when  one  picked  up  a  copy  of  "  Harper's 
Weekly  "  containing  Nast's  picture  of  Sheridan  sweep 
ing  through  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  Garrett  happened 
to  say: 

"  Buck,  there  is  a  poem  in  that  picture." 

Read  thought  there  might  be  but,  said  he,  "  Do  you 
suppose  I  can  write  a  poem  to  order  just  as  you  would 
go  to  Sprague's  and  order  a  coat?  " 

Murdoch  wished  to  read  it  that  same  evening,  No 
vember,  i,  1864,  and  going  to  the  third  story  of  the 
building  and  issuing  directions  that  he  be  not  called 
"  even  if  the  house  take  fire,"  Read  by  noon  had  finished 
what  at  once  became  his  most  famous  poem,  "  Sheri 
dan's  Ride."  Inconsequential  as  it  seems  today  and 
as  it  must  have  seemed  then  to  critical  people,  it  found 
a  nation  of  admirers,  and  the  favor  in  which  it  was  held 
was  increased  by  Read's  painting  commemorative  of  the 
"  Ride." 

A  small,  delicate  man,  who  at  some  times  in  his  life 
weighed  less  than  one  hundred  pounds,  Read  was  as 
indefatigable  in  art  as  in  poetry.  He  would  often  stand 
at  his  easel  for  five  or  even  eight  hours  at  a  time  without 


396  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

sitting  down  to  rest,  his  wife  reading  to  him  while  his 
work  progressed.  An  irrepressible  punster,  he  main 
tained  Philadelphia's  reputation  as  a  seat  for  this  ancient 
vice.  Once  while  on  his  way  to  England  in  the  fifties, 
he  was  on  deck  with  the  captain,  who,  as  there  was  a 
splendid  wind,  observed  that  "  the  ship  danced  over  the 


water." 


"  Ah,"  Read  responded  quickly,  "  Is  that  the  reason 
she  has  her  pumps  on?  " 

The  faculty  for  the  harmless  jest  was  displayed  even 
on  his  death-bed.  A  friend  sat  beside  him,  holding  his 
hand,  when  the  end  was  near.  On  one  finger  Read 
wore  a  ring  with  a  handsome  cameo,  upon  which  Shake 
speare's  features  were  cut. 

"  Ah,  I  see  you  have  a  head  of  Shakespeare,"  she 
said  as  she  examined  it. 

"  Yes,"  he  answered  feebly,  "  it  is  the  only  way  I 
could  get  a-head  of  him." 

In  the  autumn  of  1871,  while  riding  with  ex-Gover 
nor  Ward  of  New  Jersey,  who  wished  to  see  the  Coli 
seum  by  night,  the  driver  upset  the  carriage  into  an 
excavation  and  Read  was  picked  up  in  an  insensible  con 
dition.  He  was  ill  throughout  the  winter  in  Rome  but 
sailed  for  home  in  the  spring.  On  the  steamer  he  was 
attacked  with  pneumonia  and,  upon  landing,  was  taken 
to  the  Astor  House,  where  he  died  in  a  few  days,  on 
May  II,  1872.  His  remains  were  brought  on  to  the 
home  of  his  wife's  sister,  Mrs.  James  E.  Caldwell,  in 
Germantown  and  were  buried  in  Laurel  Hill. 

Thomas  Buchanan  Read  had  to  overcome  nearly  all 
the  obstacles  that  the  world  puts  in  man's  pathway,  but 
he  surmounted  them  and  rose  to  distinction  in  both 
poetry  and  painting.  If  his  gifts  were  not  of  the  high- 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  397 

est  order,  they  were  at  any  rate  conspicuous.  He  was 
a  friend  of  both  Taylor  and  Boker,  although  not  a 
close  intimate  of  those  two  men.  They  struck  a  deep 
er  note;  they  had  an  understanding  of  men's  elemen 
tary  feelings,  the  springs  of  our  great  human  move 
ments.  Read,  on  the  other  hand,  saw  a  beauty, 
splashed  the  color  upon  the  canvas,  and  passed  on,  leav 
ing  a  pleasant  record  without  reaching  the  heart  of  any 
thing.  He  had  the  power  of  deeper  insight  and  of 
stronger  expression,  as  is  evidenced  in  such  poems  as 
"  The  Closing  Scene  "  and  "  The  Brickmaker."  There 
is  poetry  in  these  lines  from  "  The  Brickmaker "  de 
scriptive  of  the  kiln:  — 

"  Narrow  corridors  extend, 
Long  and  dark,  and  smothered  aisles; 
Choke  its  earthly  vaults  with  piles 

Of  the  resinous  yellow  pine . 
Now  thrust  in  the  fettered  fire  — 
Hearken !    How  he  stamps  with  ire, 

Treading  out  the  pitchy  wine; 
Wrought  anon  to  wilder  spells, 

Hear  him  shout  his  loud  alarms! 

See  him  thrust  his  glowing  arms 
Through  the  windows  of  his  cells !  " 

But  what  a  fall  it  is  to  such  Lady  Book  rhyming 
as  — 

"  She  came  as  comes  the  summer  wind  — 

A  gust  of  beauty  to  my  heart ; 
Then  swept  away,  but  left  behind 
Emotions  which  shall  not  depart." 

Unfortunately  it  is  for  such  verse-making  that  Read 
is  principally  to  be  judged,  since  the  three  volumes  of 


398  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

his  "  Complete  Works  "  contain  so  much  of  this  fluent 
rhyme. 

Charles  Godfrey  Leland,  as  remarkable  as  were  his 
talents  and  achievements,  was  obviously  intended  for 
some  higher  destiny.  He  spent  much  of  his  life  in 
finding  out  what  he  was  and  nearly  all  the  rest  of  it  in 
trying  to  be  what  he  was  not.  Too  often  it  is  thus 
with  men,  and  Leland  is  a  rather  conspicuous  example 
of  a  first-rate  humorist  who  strove  to  be  a  philosopher, 
philologist  and  a  pedagogical  reformer  at  very  con 
siderable  sacrifice.  No  one  would  undervalue  his  excel 
lent  translation  of  Heine,  his  studies  of  the  gypsies 
whom  he  followed  from  place  to  place  with  tireless  zeal, 
or  whatever  he  may  have  done  to  improve  the  methods 
of  teaching  art;  but  translation  is  not  the  highest  form 
of  literary  service  and  what  he  did  in  explaining  and 
preserving  the  lore  of  the  Romanies  could  have  been 
as  well  or  better  done  by  some  dry-as-dust  German  pro 
fessor.  Leland  was  a  great  humorist  who  might  have 
been  a  still  greater  one,  if  he  had  not  been  ashamed  of 
the  honorable  calling  of  making  the  world  laugh,  and 
had  not  encumbered  his  mental  apparatus  with  lore  of 
the  most  various  kinds,  gleaned  from  all  languages. 
His  "  Hans  Breitmann  "  ballads  are  a  part  of  literature 
and  will  be  enjoyed  so  long  as  there  is  an  appreciation 
of  wit  of  the  kind  which  possesses  some  degree  of  subtle 
ty  and  reflects  reading  and  knowledge  and  literary  un 
derstanding. 

Charles  Godfrey  Leland  was  the  son  of  parents  who 
came  to  the  city  from  Massachusetts,  and  he  was  born 
in  a  boarding-house  on  the  north  side  of  Chestnut 
Street,  the  second  door  below  Third  Street,  on  August 
15,  1824.  Of  the  four  men  in  Pennsylvania's  group 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  399 

of  this  time,  Read  was  born  in  1822,  Boker  in  1823, 
Leland  in  1824  and  Taylor  in  1825,  and  they  were  so 
near  of  an  age  as  to  be  contemporaries  in  the  fullest 
sense.  Leland  lived  longer  than  any  of  the  rest,  until 
1903,  largely  no  doubt  because  of  the  easy-going  tran 
quil  career  which  he  led,  especially  in  his  later  years. 
In  childhood  and  youth,  he  was  far  from  robust,  but 
he  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  travel  and  good  schools, 
his  father  being  a  partner  of  Charles  S.  Boker,  George 
H.  Boker's  father,  in  a  profitable  importing  and  job 
bing  business  in  boots  and  bonnets.  The  two  boys, 
Leland  and  Boker,  were  thrown  together  from  their 
earliest  years,  the  families  being  connected  by  marriage 
as  well  as  by  business  ties.  When  Boker  was  a  junior, 
Leland  was  ready  to  enter  Princeton,  and  the  young 
student  learned  much  from  the  older  one  at  "  the  closely 
cramped,  orthodox,  hide-bound,  mathematical  "  college, 
as  the  humorist  described  it  in  his  "  Memoirs/'  seem 
ing  never  to  have  liked  the  recollection  of  his  college  ex 
periences.  He  was  now  soon  off  for  his  Wander]ahre 
in  Europe,  where  he  travelled  widely,  studied  at  Hei 
delberg,  Munich  and  Paris,  and  in  1848  fought  in  the 
barricades,  helping  to  overthrow  the  government  of 
France,  an  adventure  which  was  always  recalled  with 
warm  delight. 

Leland's  father,  having  left  the  commission  business 
with  which  he  was  engaged  with  Mr.  Boker,  became  a 
dealer  and  speculator  in  real  estate  and  stocks.  He 
owned  the  old  and  well-known  hotel,  Congress  Hall, 
and  bought  the  Arch  Street  Prison,  tearing  down  its 
walls  to  erect  a  number  of  dwelling  houses  upon  the 
site ;  but  the  successes  which  established  his  fortune  were 
gained  in  later  years,  and  it  was  now  time  for  Charles 


400  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

to  find  a  pursuit.  It  was  his  parent's  desire  that  he 
study  law  and  he  entered  the  office  of  John  Cadwalader 
for  this  purpose,  being  admitted  to  the  bar  after  three 
years'  application  to  his  books.  He  hung  out  his  sign 
in  Third  Street,  but  in  six  months  he  had  only  two 
clients,  from  whom  he  received  fifteen  dollars,  which 
induced  him  to  give  up  the  profession  and  he  never  re 
turned  to  it.  He  had  published  verse  in  the  Philadel 
phia  newspapers  before  he  went  to  Princeton;  while 
there  contributed  to  the  college  magazine,  and  upon  his 
return  from  Europe,  was  employed  to  write  articles  on 
art  subjects  for  "  Sartain's."  Each  month  several 
pages  of  matter,  serious  and  humorous,  were  furnished 
to  the  editor  of  this  magazine  which  was  so  soon  to 
meet  an  undeserved  fate.  He  was  also  writing  for  the 
"  Knickerbocker  Magazine,"  with  whose  editor,  Lewis 
Gaylord  Clark,  he  was  on  terms  of  intimate  friendli 
ness  as  he  was  likewise  with  Rufus  Wilmot  Griswold, 
now  in  New  York  editing  the  "  International  Maga 
zine/'  later  merged  with  "  Harper's."  For  Griswold, 
who  greatly  appreciated  his  talents,  Leland  wrote  a 
monthly  review  covering  current  foreign  literature  in  a 
half-dozen  languages.  Already  he  had  mastered  several 
out-of-the-way  tongues  to  add  to  his  Latin,  German  and 
French,  and  had  laid  the  foundations  for  his  reputation 
as  a  linguist. 

It  was  Griswold  who  suggested  that  Leland  go  to 
New  York  to  assist  him  in  editing  the  weekly  "  Illus 
trated  News,"  projected  on  a  lavish  scale  by  P.  T.  Bar- 
num,  the  showman,  and  some  other  capitalists,  Frank 
Leslie  being  its  chief  engraver.  While  Barnum  did  not 
use  the  paper  to  advertise  his  new  elephants,  and  de 
signed  it  to  be  something  entirely  apart  from  his  circus. 


D 


From   a  portrait    presented   to   the   Franklin   Inn    by    liis   sister, 
Mrs.    John    Harrison 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  401 

Leland  was  often  asked  by  his  friends  when  he  fed  the 
monkeys  and  whether  "  the  great  Gyascutus  "  gave 
him  any  trouble,  which  was  irksome  to  him,  and  after 
a  year  he  returned  to  Philadelphia,  leaving  the  "  Illus 
trated  News  "  to  finish  a  course  that  was  soon  run. 

Upon  his  arrival  again  in  his  native  city,  George  H. 
Boker  told  him  of  a  vacancy  on  the  editorial  staff  of 
the  "  Evening  Bulletin."  He  applied  for  the  place  and 
secured  it.  He  had  already  published  two  or  three 
volumes.  His  "  Meister  Karl's  Sketchbook,"  a  curious 
melange  about  men,  places  and  things  in  humorous 
prose  and  verse,  written  between  his  sixteenth  and  twen 
ty-fifth  years,  and  appearing  in  large  part  in  the 
"  Knickerbocker  Magazine,"  was  brought  out  in  1855 
by  Parry  and  McMillan,  the  Philadelphia  publishers. 
Washington  Irving  wrote  that  he  kept  it  by  him  to 
nibble  at  ever  and  anon  like  a  Stilton  cheese  Or  a  pate  de 
foie  gras,  but,  as  Mr.  Leland  remarked  truthfully,  "  it 
was  caviare  to  the  general  reader."  Yet  the  descrip 
tion  of  Meister  Karl's  "  tourifications,  trapesings, 
tramps,  trudges  and  travels  through  this  wavy  and 
windy  world,"  are  delightful,  and  readers  of  Irving's 
taste,  though  they  be  few,  will  enjoy  it  as  much  today 
as  when  it  was  first  published. 

Leland  was  now  doing  the  work  for  which  nature  de 
signed  him.  In  addition  to  much  of  the  general  writ 
ing  which  is  to  be  done  by  the  journalist,  he  was  con 
ducting  a  department  in  the  "  Bulletin  "  called  "  Social 
Hall  Sketches."  It  was  at  this  period  that  he  was  able 
to  accomplish  the  marriage  which  he  had  planned  five 
years  before  with  Miss  Belle  Fisher,  a  daughter  of  Rod 
ney  Fisher,  a  Philadelphia  merchant,  and  they  went  to 
live  at  the  La  Pierre  House.  At  this  time  Alexander 


402  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

Cummings  owned  the  "  Bulletin,"  and  after  "  shav 
ing  "  Mr.  Leland,  reducing  his  salary  materially  on  the 
plea  of  "  hard  times,"  the  young  man  was  invited  to 
become  a  part  owner  of  the  paper.  Leland  said  that  he 
thought  the  property  could  not  be  very  profitable,  but 
Cummings  declared  that  the  investment  would  pay  fif 
teen  per  cent. 

"  How  can  that  be  when  you  complain  about  the 
times  and  pay  me  so  little?  "  Leland  inquired. 

"  Ah,"  said  Cummings,  chuckling,  "  you  see  that  is 
the  way  we  make  our  money." 

After  this  revelation,  Leland  left  the  paper  and  was 
ready  for  new  adventures  in  New  York.  A  time  was 
now  at  hand  when  there  was  nothing  to  entice  literary 
men  to  Philadelphia  and  little  to  keep  there  those  indig 
enous  to  the  soil.  Thus  did  the  city  lose  such  a  writer 
as  the  author  of  "  Rudder  Grange  "  and  "  The  Lady  or 
the  Tiger?"  The  half-brother  of  Dr.  Thomas  H. 
Stockton,  a  well-known  preacher  and  theological  writer 
of  the  Methodist  church,  Frank  R.  Stockton  was  born 
in  Philadelphia,  graduated  at  the  Central  High  School 
and  lived  here  as  a  wood  engraver  until  after  the  war, 
or  until  he  was  ready  to  make  literature  a  pursuit,  when 
he  removed  to  New  York.  Leland,  like  Bayard  Tay 
lor,  had  the  same  experience  a  little  earlier  than  Stock 
ton.  The  chief  of  Philadelphia's  magazines,  "  Gra 
ham's,"  had  entirely  passed  from  the  control  of  its  old 
owner,  and  Leland,  while  on  the  "  Bulletin,"  worked 
manfully  but  vainly  to  resuscitate  it.  He  wrote  for  it 
industriously,  threw  pages  of  matter  into  it  recklessly 
under  the  name  of  "  Easy  Talk,"  good,  wholesome  hu 
mor  that  still  lies  buried  there,  though  to  excavate  it 
and  bring  it  to  the  light  of  day  would  be  a  real  service 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  403 

to  American  letters.  Through  his  efforts  the  circula 
tion  of  the  magazine  was  raised  from  almost  nothing 
to  17,000,  but  the  proprietor,  who  was  to  give  Leland 
fifty  dollars  a  month  for  his  labors,  was  eighteen 
months  in  arrears,  although  obligating  himself  to  pay 
the  salary  punctually;  and  there  was  no  need  to  stay 
longer  in  Philadelphia  to  attend  the  wake  of  such  a 
corpse. 

His  first  employment  in  New  York,  on  his  second 
visit,  was  under  George  Ripley  and  Charles  A.  Dana 
on  Appleton's  Cyclopedia.  He  wrote  also  for  Frank 
Leslie's  publications,  "  Vanity  Fair,"  an  illustrated 
comic  weekly,  in  editing  which  he  was  assisted  by  "Arte- 
mus  Ward,"  and  for  other  magazines  and  newspapers, 
his  literary  star  as  that  of  many  other  men  setting  for  a 
time  with  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 

Now  for  a  short  period  he  edited  a  magazine  de 
voted  to  the  Union  cause  in  Boston,  but  in  1862  re 
turned  to  Philadelphia  to  bide  his  time,  writing  a  little, 
joining  the  emergency  men  who  went  to  the  front  at 
the  time  of  the  excitement  caused  by  Lee's  invasion  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  visiting  Tennessee  and  West  Virginia 
to  stake  out  petroleum  lands  while  the  oil  fever  was  at 
its  height,  gaining  new  experiences  and  making  humor 
ous  observations,  wherever  he  went,  of  value  to  him  in 
later  life. 

Once,  he  was  wont  to  relate,  he  had  forgotten  his 
blanket  and,  missing  it  at  length,  sent  back  his  guide 
to  recover  it.  Leland  sought  shelter  in  a  log  cabin, 
the  only  inmate  of  which  was  a  young  woman  who, 
upon  seeing  him,  ran  at  full  speed  for  the  wood. 
When  the  guide  returned,  Leland  expressed  astonish 
ment  at  her  flight;  he  did  not  but  gravely  asked: 


404  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

"  Don't  the  gals  in  your  part  of  the  country  allays 
break  for  the  woods  when  they  see  you  a-comin'  ?  " 

"  Certainly  not,"  Leland  averred  positively. 

"  Thank  God !  "  the  man  exclaimed  impressively, 
"  our  girls  here  hev  better  morrils  than  yourn." 

Leland  was  again  indebted  to  his  friend  Boker  for 
a  post  on  a  Philadelphia  newspaper.  John  W.  Forney, 
on  Boker's  recommendation,  invited  him  to  become 
managing  editor  of  the  "  Press,"  a  position  he  held  for 
three  years  with  some  absences  in  the  West  in  the  capaci 
ty  of  a  correspondent.  It  was  a  period  of  bitter  politi 
cal  animosities  and  Forney  was  in  the  midst  of  every 
fracas.  Mobs  attacked  the  office  and  threatened  to 
raze  it  to  the  ground,  while  men  were  not  infrequently 
shot  in  the  riots  under  the  editorial  windows.  All  the 
"  Press  "  editors  carried  arms  but  Leland,  who  did  not, 
as  he  humorously  explained,  because  he  hated  to  have 
"  impedimenta  "  in  his  pockets.  They  hung  their  coats 
in  a  closet  outside  and  when  Leland  forgot  his  papers 
and  sent  his  assistant  to  fetch  them,  the  latter  knew 
which  coat  was  his  chiefs  because  it  was  the  only  one 
that  had  no  pistol  in  it. 

Leland  was  now  widely  known  as  "  Hans  Breit- 
mann,"  the  author  of  the  dialect  ballads  written  to  cele 
brate  the  very  comical  doings  of  a  big  and  bibulous 
German  who  was  taken  through  the  Civil  War,  the 
Franco-Prussian  War,  up  and  down  and  across  this 
country  and  Europe,  his  adventures  being  chronicled 
in  verse  which,  with  all  its  subtlety  of  allusion,  was  not 
too  far  beyond  the  ken  of  common  men.  In  the  Breit- 
mann  ballads,  Leland  jumbled  French,  Latin,  Italian, 
and  Dutch,  as  well  as  English  and  German,  into  a  most 
amusing  jargon,  and  made  many  references  to  German 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  405 

philosophy  and  literature,  the  full  meaning  of  which  is 
certainly  in  many  cases  incomprehensible  to  any  but 
well-educated  people.  Hans,  however,  gained  wide 
spread  popularity.  He  appeared  in  costume  at  Ger 
man  balls  and  in  street  processions.  He  was  a  figure  in 
the  plays  at  the  theatres  and  on  the  burlesque  stage. 
A  cigar  was  named  for  him  and  in  London  a  comic  pa 
per  called  "  Hans  Breitmann,"  made  its  appearance. 
There  were  no  national  limits  to  his  fame.  This  funny 
German  made  his  debut  with  these  accompanying  re 
marks  in  Leland's  pages  of  "  Easy  Talk,"  in  "  Gra 
ham's  Magazine"  for  June,  1857: 

"  We  do  not  much  approve  of  ridiculing  the  lan 
guage  or  manners  of  a  nation  any  more  than  those  of 
an  individual  —  sir  'tis  uncosmopolite  and  therefore 
vastly  wicked  —  and  least  of  all  do  we  like  quizzing 
our  friends  the  Germans.  But  we  cannot  reject  the 
following  —  it  is  too  genial  in  its  spirit  of  broad  bur 
lesque  : — 

HANS  BREITMANN'S  BARTY 

FUER  GRAHAM'S  MONATSHEFT 

BEI  TSCHUPERTI 

"Hans  Breitmann  gife  a  barty  —  dey  had  biano 
blayin  —  I  felld  in  lofe  mit  a  Merican  frau.  Her 
name  was  Madilda  Yane.  She  hat  haar  as  prown  as 
a  pretzel  bun,  de  eyes  were  himmel  blue  and  ven  she 
looket  into  mine,  dey  shplit  mine  heart  in  two." 

And  so  on  to  the  last  lines : 

"  Hans  Breitmann  gife  a  barty  —  vhere  is  dat  barty 
now?  Vhere  is  de  lofely  golten  cloudt  dat  float  on  der 
moundain's  prow?  Vhere  is  de  himmelstrahlende 


406  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

stern  —  de  schtar  of  de  spirit's  light?  —  all  goned  afay 
mit  de  Lager  Bier  —  afay  in  der  Evigkeit. 

44  Beautiful  indeed!  *  Goned  afay  in  der  Evig 
keit  ' —  passed  away  into  eternity,  if  we  translate 
aright,  is  a  very  fine  conclusion. " 

"  Hans  Breitmann's  Barty  "  was  copied  widely  and 
the  author  was  encouraged  to  describe  his  hero's  farther 
adventures.  Leland's  student  life  abroad  and  later 
travels  in  Germany  well  equipped  him  for  picturing 
such  a  character.  In  this  man  was  found  a  parody  of 
the  whole  German  nation,  done  with  no  less  good  humor 
than  knowledge.  One  ballad  followed  another  and 
Leland  improved  himself  as  he  went.  In  "  Breitmann 
in  a  Balloon  "  he  wrote : — 

"  O  vot  ish  dis  a  gomin'? 

Some  planet,  py  de  Lord ! 
Too  boor  to  life  in  heafen, 

Coom  down  on  eart'  to  poard ; 
Und  pelow  it  schwing  tree  engels, 

Two  he-vons,  mit  a  wench; 
Boot,  mein  Gott!  vot  sort  of  engels 

Can  dose  pe,  dalkin  Fraentsch." 

Breitmann  not  unreasonably  expected  to  find  sweet 
"  schmells  "  in  Cologne,  but  he  was  disappointed: — 

"  Of  all  de  schmells  I  efer  schmelt, 

By  gutter,  sink  or  well, 
At  efery  gorner  of  Cologne 

Dere's  von  can  peat  dat  schmell ; 
Vhen  dere  you  go  you'll  find  it  so  — 

Don't  dake  de  ding  on  troost; 
De  meanest  skunk  in  Yankee  land 

Vould  die  dere  of  disgoost." 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  407 

In  Cologne  Hans  visited  the  minster: — 

"  Next  tay  to  de  cat'edral 

He  vent  de  dings  to  view, 
Und  found  it  shoost  drei  thaler  cost 

To  see  de  sighds  all  troo. 
'  Id's  tear,'  said  Hans,  '  boot  go  ahet, 

I'fe  cot  de  cash  all  right; 
Boot  id's  queer  dat's  only  Protestands 
Vot  mosdly  see  de  sighdt ! ' 

"  Im  Mittelalter  I  hafe  read 

De  shoorsh  vas  always  sure  — 
An  open  bicdure  gallerie, 

Und  book  for  all  de  poor; 
Boot  now  de  dings  is  so  arrange 

No  poor  folk  can  get  in ; 
We  Yankees  und  de  Englisch  are 

Pout  all  ash  shbends  de  tin." 

He  concludes  with  some  wisdom  that  — 

"  Dese  Deutsche  sacrisdans  might  learn 

More  goot  in  Italy, 
Vhere  beoples  bays  shoost  half  de  brice 
For  ten  dimes  more  to  see." 

A  very  successful  ballad  was  "  Schnitzerl's  Philoso- 
pede,"  produced  in  a  few  minutes  while  he  was  in  the 
"  Press  "  office.  It  begins: — 

"  Herr  Schnitzerl  make  a  philosopede, 

Von  of  de  pullyest  kind ; 
It  vent  mitout  a  vheel  in  front, 

Und  hadn't  none  pehind. 
Von  vheel  vas  in  de  mittel,  dough, 

Und  it  vent  as  shure  ash  ecks, 


4o8  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

For  he  shtraddled  on  de  axel  dree 
Mit  der  vheel  between  his  leeks." 

The  machine  flew  like  the  wind: — 

"  De  vellers  mit  de  trottin'  nags 
Pooled  oop  to  see  him  bass; 
De  Deutschers  all  erstaunished  saidt, 

1  Potztausend !     Was  ist  das?  ' 
Boot  vashter  shtill  der  Schnitzerl  flewed 

On  mit  a  ghastly  smile! 
He  tidn't  tooush  de  dirt,  py  shings, 
Not  vonce  in  half  a  mile." 

But  the  ballads  were  not  collected  and  issued  in  book 
form  without  misgivings  on  the  part  of  more  than  one 
publisher.  One  day  a  friend  said  to  Leland: 

:<  Why  don't  you  publish  your  Breitmann  ballads  in 
a  book?  Everybody  is  quoting  them  now." 

"  There  is  not  a  publisher  in  America  who  would 
accept  them,"  Leland  replied,  and  there  was  not.  A 
printer  undertook  to  issue  some  of  the  ballads  in  paper 
covers  in  1869,  the  work  soon  being  transferred  to 
T.  B.  Peterson  and  Brothers,  although  they  said  they 
did  not  hope  to  sell  more  than  one  thousand  copies.  So 
successful  was  the  publication  that  several  other  vol 
umes  followed  and  there  were  editions  in  England, 
Canada  and  Australia.  It  will  be  difficult  in  the  entire 
range  of  American  humor  to  find  anything  better  than 
Leland's  ballads,  although  he  was  more  than  a  dialect 
humorist,  as  witness  parts  of  "  Meister  Karl's  Sketch 
Book"  and  his  "  Easy  Talk"  in  "  Graham's";  and 
not  the  least  amusing  of  his  works,  albeit  perhaps  un 
conscious,  is  his  volume  of  "  Memoirs  "  published  in 
1893.  There  is  fun  enough  in  "  What  a  Young  Man 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  409 

Saw  in  Broadway  "  in  "  Meister  Karl's  Sketch  Book  " 
to  show  what  Leland  might  have  been  without  the  aid 
of  Breitmann's  funny  jargon: — 

"  I  stood  on  the  steps  of  the  Astor, 

And  gazed  at  the  living  tide 
Of  vehicles  down  the  middle, 
And  people  up  either  side. 

"  And  I  saw  a  maid  who  was  '  pumpkins  ' 

In  a  shawl  of  real  Cashmere 
Jump  down  from  the  step  of  a  carriage 
While  her  robe  got  caught  in  the  rear. 

"  Oh,  the  robe  was  of  moire  antique 

(A  very  expensive  'rag'), 

But  a  skirt  peep'd  out  below  it, 

And  that  was  a  coffee  bag. 

"  I  knew  it  had  once  held  coffee, 

Though  now  'twas  another  thing, 
For  on  it  was  '  Fine  Old  Java,' 
Y'  mark'd  in  store  blacking. 

"  And  I  thought  as  she  gain'd  the  sidewalk, 

And  the  '  muslin  '  again  was  furl'd, 

How  much  those  out-skirts  and  in-skirts 

Were  like  man's  heart  in  the  world ; 

"  How  many  a  Pharisee  humbug 
Plays  a  lifelong  game  of  brag; 
His  words  all  silk  and  velvet, 
And  his  heart  but  a  coffee  bag." 

Strangely  enough,  "  Breitmann  "  loathed  his  calling 
and  devoted  but  a  few  years  to  that  work  upon  which  his 


4io  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

literary  fame  will  always  rest.  He  disliked  himself  In 
the  role  of  humorist  and  wished  to  be  remembered  as  a 
learned  authority  on  the  gypsies,  the  Algonquin  Indi 
ans,  education  and  the  problems  of  sex,  upon  which 
subjects  he  industriously  wrote  in  his  later  years. 
Widely  known  by  his  pen  name,  Leland  always  resented 
it  if  he  were  introduced  or  in  anywise  addressed  as 
"  Hans  Breitmann."  To  Fisher  Unwin,  who  had  pub 
lished  Leland's  picture,  placing  the  pseudonym  under 
it,  Leland  wrote: 

"  Breitmann  has  become  my  autocrat  who  rules  me 
with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  has  imposed  his  accursed  name 
on  me  —  and  thou  helpest  him  !  " 

Thus  did  he  wish  to  forget  his  early  and  principal 
service  to  letters  and  thus  did  he  rebuke  those  who 
sought  to  regard  him  as  a  humorist. 

A  tall,  well-built  man,  six  feet  two  inches  in  height, 
he  and  his  handsome  friend  Boker,  with  whom  he  was 
often  seen  on  Chestnut  Street,  were  marked  figures. 
He  wore  a  long,  sweeping  beard.  He  had  a  red  and 
white  complexion,  and  when  a  young  man,  the  ladies 
of  Philadelphia  teased  him  about  it,  declaring  that  he 
painted  to  produce  the  ruddy  effects.  When  on  his  expe 
ditions  among  the  gypsies,  who  treated  him  as  a  brother 
—  he  was  a  true  Romany  Rye  and  in  later  life  was  affec 
tionately  called  "  The  Rye,"  at  home  and  by  his  close 
friends  —  he  dressed  in  a  velveteen  coat  and  a  soft- 
brimmed  hat.  He  owned  the  house  at  1523  Locust 
Street,  but  occupied  it  for  but  a  few  months.  When  he 
lived  in  Philadelphia  for  four  or  five  years,  introducing 
his  ideas  in  regard  to  the  teaching  of  art  into  the  pub 
lic  schools,  he  had  apartments  in  a  building  on  Broad 
Street  where  the  Art  Club  now  stands.  In  the  end  he 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  411 

was  almost  an  exile,   passing  many  years   in   Europe 
which  came  to  be  his  home,  and  dying  in  Italy  in  1903. 

Walt  Whitman,  though  for  nineteen  years,  or  until 
his  death  in  1892,  residing  on  the  opposite  shores  of  the 
Delaware,  was  not  of  Philadelphia  or  of  its  people. 
Born  on  Long  Island,  he  roamed  the  country,  being 
engaged  in  many  occupations,  in  none  of  which  he 
gained  any  degree  of  success.  In  youth,  he  was  a  house 
carpenter,  like  his  father;  sometimes  a  printer;  again 
a  teacher;  during  the  war,  a  soldiers'  nurse  and  hospital 
aid;  and  later  a  government  clerk  in  Washington,  being 
dismissed  from  one  of  the  departments  for  keeping  on 
his  desk  his  "  Leaves  of  Grass,"  which  was  accounted 
by  his  chief  to  be  immoral.  Too  ill  to  go  farther, 
Whitman  was  stranded  in  Philadelphia  in  1873,  while 
on  his  way  to  his  friends  on  Long  Island.  He  found 
care-takers  in  Camden,  which  became  his  home,  and 
while  here  the  discovery  was  made,  by  English  appre- 
ciators  principally,  that  he  was  a  poet  of  world  size. 
He  became  the  "Good  Gray  Poet,"  the  "Bard  of 
Democracy  "  and  a  "  Friend  of  Man."  It  would  be 
vain  to  deny  to  Whitman  a  new,  original  and  com 
pelling  genius  of  some  indigenous,  not  readily  classified, 
kind.  His  voice  was  a  deep  bass  from  the  bowels  of 
our  existence.  He  was  the  bard  of  the  unwashed 
democracy.  He  said  with  truth  in  his  "  Leaves  of 
Grass:"— 

"  I  am  for  those  who  believe  in  loose  delights ;  I  share  the  mid 
night  orgies  of  young  men  ; 
I  dance  with  the  dancers  and  drink  with  the  drinkers,"  etc. 

"  O  you  shunn'd  persons,  I  at  least  do  not  shun  you ; 
I  come  forthwith  in  your  midst;  I  will  be  your  poet; 
I  will  be  more  to  you  than  to  any  of  the  rest." 


4i2  LITERARY  PHILADELPHIA 

The  brawlers  and  wantons  of  the  world,  whose  liv 
ing  he  glorifies,  did  not  understand  him;  indeed,  never 
read  him.  He  is  as  unintelligible  "  to  the  ordinary 
people  of  the  English-speaking  race "  as  the  Greek 
Testament,  one  of  his  admirers  has  said,  and  "  it  will 
be  generations  if  at  all  before  a  people  will  be  pro 
duced  who  will  read  Whitman,  as  they  now  do  and  will 
for  centuries  read  the  graceful  and  tuneful  poets, 
Shakespeare,  or  the  Bible."  Whitman,  by  the  confes 
sion  of  his  friends,  is  for  some  Uebermensch  yet  to  be 
developed  in  the  evolutionary  process,  and  when  this 
race  of  persons  is  lifted  up  out  of  the  lower  classes,  it  is 
safe  to  predict  that  colleges  and  universities,  the  church 
and  the  other  agencies  of  our  civilization,  will  have  cre 
ated  in  it  a  taste  for  more  beauty  and  refinement,  and 
lead  to  a  rejection  of  literature  that  exhales  the  various 
foulnesses  of  the  sinks  and  sewers  of  our  being. 

Whitman  was,  is  and  must  remain,  the  poet  of  a 
sect.  He  is  for  those  who  argue,  expound  and  defend 
—  for  the  advocates  of  the  unorthodox,  the  image- 
breaking.  He  lived  in  the  midst  of  Philadelphians  with 
whom  he  came  to  spend  his  concluding  years,  obedient 
to  his  own  preachings,  with  the  "  shunn'd  persons." 
After  his  brother  left  Camden,  he  occupied  a  little  two- 
story  frame  house  at  328  Mickle  Street,  in  that  city, 
toward  which  his  admirers  turned  their  steps  for  many 
years  with  the  devotion  that  marked  the  disciples  of 
Nietsche.  He  was  long  an  object  of  charity.  George 
W.  Childs,  it  is  computed,  gave  him  in  all  about  $3,- 
ooo,  a  considerable  part  of  which  was  used  to  purchase 
the  Camden  house.  Others  less  able  to  spare  it,  both  in 
America  and  England,  young  men  with  Socialist  enthu 
siasm,  sent  him  their  small  and  hard-earned  hoards, 


From    a    Franklin    Inn    portrait 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS 

while  he,  unknown  to  them,  had  thousands  of  dollars 
which  were  to  be  used  for  the  erection  of  a  tawdry  tomb 
to  hold  his  bones  in  Harleigh  Cemetery. 

He  was  in  chronic  need  Before  Mrs.  Davis  came 
to  live  with  him  as  his  housekeeper,  he  cooked  the  most 
frugal  meals  on  a  coal-oil  stove  and  ate  from  a  dry-goods 
box.  He  slept  in  a  room  with  a  bare  floor  heated  by 
a  wood  stove.  When  Charles  Godfrey  Leland  asked 
him  to  put  his  autograph  in  a  copy  of  "  Leaves  of 
Grass,"  he  said  he  never  did  such  things  except  for 
money,  and  a  peddler  thrift  characterized  him  in  his 
social  relations.  A  friend  sent  him  a  pass  on  the  Phila 
delphia  and  Camden  ferry  boat  lines,  and  it  was  his 
amusement  to  ride  back  and  forth  upon  the  river,  lean 
ing  over  the  boat-rail  even  in  the  coldest  weather.  li  I 
love  to  hear  the  ice  craunch,"  said  he,  always  a  lover  of 
the  elemental,  as  the  boats  plowed  through  the  floes 
that  in  winter  impede  the  Delaware.  He  had  his 
"  Howdy  "  for  all  kinds  of  persons  —  deck-hands, 
vagrants,  mechanics,  for  people  of  both  sexes,  all 
colors,  ages  and  nationalities,  and  on  the  Philadelphia 
side  would  sit  long  in  a  chair  furnished  him  by  an 
Italian  street  vender,  munching  peanuts,  or  make 
friendships  with  the  drivers  of  the  horse-cars  who  came 
to  the  foot  of  Market  Street,  often  mounting  the  stool 
on  the  front  platform  which  was  resigned  to  him.  Thus 
he  journeyed  the  entire  length  of  Market  Street  and 
back  again,  regarded  as  an  "  odd  stick,"  even  by  those 
that  he  assumed  most  fully  to  represent.  When  Le 
land  met  him  one  time,  Walt  took  him  into  a  squalid 
little  bar-room  and  introduced  him  to  a  number  of 
tramps:  "I  had  in  my  time  been  bon  compagnon 
with  gypsies,  tinkers,  and*  all  kinds  of  loose  fish,  and 


4H  LITERARY    PHILADELPHIA 

thought  nothing  of  it  all,"  said  the  humorist.  Oth 
ers,  not  so  indulgent  of  gypsies  and  tinkers,  did  not  find 
such  methods  of  living  consistent  with  their  notions  of 
poetry.  Dr.  Reynell  Coates,  the  old  editor  of  u  Sar- 
tain's,"  who  gave  him  medical  attention  one  time, 
complained :  "  I  do  not  object  to  his  going  to  public 
houses  and  getting  his  tipple  upon  my  credit,  but  when 
he  impersonates  me  and  does  it,  it  is  too  much,  and  I 
will  not  stand  it." 

"  Whitman  was,  from  first  to  last,  a  boorish,  awk 
ward  poseur"  says  Rebecca  Harding  Davis.  '*  He 
sang  of  the  workingman  as  of  a  god,  but  he  never  did  an 
hour's  work  himself  if  he  could  live  by  alms."  Many 
who  contributed  in  response  to  the  appeals  of  his  ener 
getic  friends  thought,  if  they  did  not  dare  to  say,  what 
Whittier  wrote  in  1885,  when  the  literary  men  of  the 
world  were  asked  to  subscribe  to  a  fund  to  buy  Whitman 
a  horse  and  buggy.  "  I  have  no  doubt  in  his  lameness," 
said  the  Quaker  poet  with  the  frankness  and  humor  of 
his  people,  "  that  a  kind,  sober-paced  roadster  would  be 
more  serviceable  to  him  than  the  untamed,  rough,  jolt 
ing  Pegasus  he  has  been  accustomed  to  ride  —  without 
check  or  snaffle." 

He  addressed  Christ  as  "  my  Comrade,"  and  at  his 
funeral,  Confucius,  Buddha,  the  Saviour  and  Whitman 
were  confused  in  the  requiem,  as  they  always  were  in 
the  minds  of  this  u  sage  "  of  Mickle  Street,  and  of  many 
who  journeyed  to  his  shrine.  Whitman  was  a  giant 
mechanic,  the  hairs  of  whose  long  beard  mingled  with 
the  growth  upon  his  breast  exposed  beneath  the  unbut 
toned  collar  of  his  shirt.  His  sect  is  as  devoted  to 
his  memory  as  to  his  person  in  life,  and  the  place  given 
him  by  the  critics  of  literature  must  depend  upon  their 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  415 

conception  of  poetry,  their  definition  of  the  limits  of 
art,  and  their  ability  to  dissociate  the  lamp  from  the 
light  which  it  gave  forth. 

With  these  five  authors  —  Bayard  Taylor,  George 
H.  Boker,  Thomas  Buchanan  Read,  Charles  Godfrey 
Leland  and  Walt  Whitman  —  the  literary  record  of 
Philadelphia  may  be  permitted  to  close  for  a  time  — 
until  the  years,  flowing  by  us  so  inexorably,  carry  us 
to  a  point  upon  which  we  can  stand  and  look  back  at 
works  and  lives  still  unfinished.  It  may  be  urged  that 
this  group  is  not  one  that  can  properly  be  compared  with 
the  "  Cambridge  group  "  of  poets.  They  are  not  of 
such  quality  as  artists.  Moreover,  Read  and  Leland 
left  Philadelphia  to  live  in  Europe,  while  Taylor  and 
Boker  wandered  on  foreign  ground  whenever  they 
could  do  so.  As  for  Whitman,  he  was  not  of  the  place 
or  people  and  was  connected  with  the  group  chiefly 
through  the  begging  letters  with  which  his  cashiers  as* 
sailed  his  fellow  writers. 

However  this  may  be,  Taylor  and  Boker  were  poets 
of  the  first  rank  and  in  a  neighborhood  more  disposed 
to  make  heroes  of  its  men  of  genius,  they  would  hold 
a  place  higher  than  any  which  we  have  given  them. 
When  their  fame  was  rising,  Philadelphia  was  losing 
to  New  York  and  New  England  its  pre-eminence  as  a 
literary  centre.  Leland,  that  strange  mixture  of  hu 
morist  and  college  professor,  to  be  admired  so  long  as 
there  are  those  who  are  able  to  understand  and  enjoy 
good  wit,  faced  the  same  conditions.  All  must  look 
outside  for  recognition  and  the  means  to  their  advance 
ment  while  their  fellow  Philadelphians  contrived 
theories  to  explain  the  passing  of  the  sceptre,  one  of 
which,  oddly  enough,  was  that  the  city  had  ceased  to 


416  LITERARY   PHILADELPHIA 

produce  writers  of  any  worth.  Thus  in  contention  they 
have  latterly  belittled  their  own,  instead  of  reading,  ad 
miring,  defending  and  making  places  in  their  midst  for 
those  that  are  of  them  and  truly  belong  to  them. 

The  Quakers  have  been  held  responsible  for  Penn 
sylvania's  literary  position.  Yet  there  was  a  quarterly 
magazine  in  Philadelphia  in  the  first  half  of  the  nine 
teenth  century,  which  predicted  that  trade  so  paralyzed 
literary  activity  in  New  England  that  it  would  prevent 
the  development  of  imaginative  writers  in  that  region. 
It  was  Henry  T.  Tuckerman  who  responded,  com 
plaining  of  our  "  calm,  prescriptive,  and  monotonous 
environment,"  and  describing  the  Friends  as  "  a  class 
distinguished  indeed  for  moral  worth,  but  equally  re 
markable  for  the  absence  of  a  sense  of  the  beautiful, 
and  a  firm  repudiation  of  the  artistic  graces  of  life,  and 
the  inspiration  of  sentiment,  except  that  of  a  strictly 
religious  kind."  Nevertheless,  the  Quakers  produced  in 
poetry  William  Cliffton,  John  Greenleaf  Whittier,  and 
Bayard  Taylor,  and  in  prose  so  fertile  an  imagination 
as  Charles  Brockden  Brown's. 

From  the  day  of  Nathaniel  Evans  and  Thomas  God 
frey,  Jr.,  to  "  The  Story  of  Kennett,"  and  "  The  Wag 
oner  of  the  Alleghanies,"  the  city  with  its  outlying 
counties  has  furnished  much  scenery  for  the  writings 
of  its  authors.  They  have  hallowed  much  Pennsyl 
vania  ground,  but  art  needs  a  wide  country,  as  a  poet 
like  Boker  understood: 

1  'Tis  well  for  you  beyond  the  sea, 

Where  every  toiling  mattock  delves 
Among  the  spoils  of  history, 

To  bid  us  work  within  ourselves.' 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  POETS  417 

"  All  bare  of  legendary  lore, 

Our  grandest  regions  stretch  away; 
These  are  the  pictured  scenes,  no  more ; 
These  are  the  scenery,  not  the  play." 

To  many,  and  to  him  and  Taylor  notably,  neighbor 
hood  had  only  accidental  claims.     Said  Boker:  — 

"  Not  for  myself,  but  for  my  art, 
I  claim  all  ages,  every  clime  ; 
And  I  shall  scorn  the  lines  that  part 
Country  from  country,  time  from  time. 

"  O  poet  of  the  present  day ! 

Range  back  or  forth,  change  time  or  place, 
But  mould  the  sinews  of  thy  lay 
To  struggle  in  the  final  race." 


INDEX 


Abolitionists,  314  et  seq. 

Academy  of  Natural  Sciences, 
206,  208,  209,  364,  365. 

Adams,  John,  on  Jacob  Duche, 
44;  on  Franklin,  52-54;  on 
William  Smith,  61,  105;  on 
Pennsylvania  Constitution, 
1 06,  126;  attacks  on,  129, 
130. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  153, 
183,  200,  320. 

Adams,  Samuel,  92. 

Addison,  168,  266. 

Agnew,  D.  Hayes,  362. 

Agnew,  Mary,  378,  379. 

Aitken,  Robert,  25,  84,  86,  87. 

Alcott,  Bronson,  200,  209,  et 
seq. 

Alcott,  Louisa  M.,  211,  213. 

Alexander,  Charles,  227. 

Allen,  Paul,    184. 

Allibone,  Dr.  S.  Austin,  348, 
361. 

Allston,  Washington,  270, 
392. 

Almanacs,  25,  48,  et  seq. 

American  Philosophical  So 
ciety,  55,  56,  108,  109,  145, 
146,  208. 

419 


American    Quarterly   Review, 

194,  226,  266. 

Analectic  Magazine,  223-225. 
Annan,  Mrs.,  231. 
"Arctic,"  wreck  of  the,  360. 
Arctic    Exploration,    367,    et 

seq. 

Arthur,  T.  S.,  231,  233,  270. 
Atkinson,     Samuel     C.,     227, 

263. 

Audubon,  J.  J.,  201,  et  seq. 
"Aurora,"      128-130;      170, 
172,  242. 

Bache,  B.  F.,  127-129;  131. 
Bache,  Richard,    128. 
Bailey,  Francis,   116,   117. 
Baird,  Henry  Carey,  340,  345. 
Barker,  James  N.,  240. 
Barker,  General  John,  240. 
Barlow,  Joel,  134,  176. 
Barnes,  Albert,  278,  366. 
Barnum,  P.  T.,  253,  400. 
Barrett,  Elizabeth  B.,  274. 
Barrett,  Lawrence,  387. 
Barton,  Dr.  B.  S.,   184,  206, 

207. 

Barron,  Commodore,  2OO. 
Bartram,  John,  23,  56,  57. 


420 


INDEX 


Bartram,  William,  140,  141, 
207. 

"Bee   Hive,"  Pastorius's,   18. 

Beecher,  Lyman,  312. 

Beissel,  Conrad,  16,  23,  24, 
28,  46. 

Bell,  Robert,  84,  85,  95. 

Benezet,  Anthony,  112,  313. 

Benjamin,  Park,  231,  269. 

Bennett,  James  Gordon,  234. 

Bible,  Sower's,  25-27;  Car 
ey's,  137. 

Biddle,  Nicholas,  176,  184, 
189,  196,  197- 

Binney,     Horace,     176,     189, 

200. 

Bioren  and  Madan,   149. 
Bird,     Robert     Montgomery, 

242-244,  249,  et  seq.,  268, 

346. 

Blackstone,  sale  of  in  America, 

85- 

Blair,  F.  P.,  270. 
Blair,  Samuel,  School  of,  41. 
Blanchard,  William  A.,  340, 

344- 

Blanchard,  Henry,  341. 
Boker,  Charles  S.,  283,  386, 

399- 
Boker,  George  H.,  268,  278, 

357,  374,  379,  386,  et  seq., 

397,   399,   401,   410,   415- 

417. 
Bonaparte,     Charles     Lucien, 

200,  20 1,  202. 
Bond,  Dr.  Thomas,  56. 


Bond,  Dr.  Phineas,  56. 

Book  Auctions,  85. 

Book  Trade  Sales,  343. 

Boston,  as  a  literary  centre, 
viii. 

"  Boston  Bard,"  see  R.  S.  Cof 
fin. 

Boudinot,  Ellas,  38. 

Bouvier,  John,  133,  145. 

Bracken  ridge,  Hugh  Henry, 
115,  116. 

Bradford's  Printing  House, 
64,  74,  140,  151,220. 

Bradford,  Andrew,  13,  61. 

Bradford,  Cornelia,  14. 

Bradford,  William  I.,  in  Phil 
adelphia,  2,  3 ;  imprison 
ment  of,  5 ;  in  New  York, 
5 ;  proposed  Bible  of,  25, 
61. 

Brahmins  in  Philadelphia,  vii. 

Brandywine,  256,  391. 

Breintnal,  Joseph,  55,  66. 

"  Breitmann,  Hans,"  see  C.  G. 
Leland. 

Bremer,  Frederika,  278. 

Brinton,   Daniel   G.,   7,    364, 

365. 

Brockden,  Charles,  54,  158. 
Bronson,   Enos,   223. 
Brooks,  Phillips,  366. 
Brotherhood    of    the    Union, 

258. 
Brown,      Charles      Brockden, 

147,  157,  et  seq.,  189,  256, 

261,  266,  416. 


INDEX 


421 


Brown,  David  Paul,  241,  320. 

Brown,  General  Jacob,  185. 

Browning,  Mrs.,  see  E.  B. 
Barrett. 

Browning,  Robert,  386. 

Bryan,  George,  92,  94,  97, 
98. 

Bryant,  William  Cullcn,  242, 
266,  268,  269,  276. 

Buchanan,  Miss,  see  Mrs.  An 
nan. 

Bufleb,  380. 

Burke,  Edmund,  47,  222. 

Burleigh,  C.  C.,  328,  329. 

Burleigh,  W.  H.,  328. 

Burr,  Aaron,   177. 

Burton,  William  E.,  263,  265. 

Butler,  Frances  Kemble,  see 
Fanny  Kemble. 

Butler,  Pierce,  306,  358. 

Byron,  Lord,  218. 

Cade,  Jack,  247. 
Cadwalader,     General     John, 

100. 

Cadwalader,  Thomas,  176. 
Caldwell,    Dr.    Charles,    184, 

185,  186,  199. 
Caldwell,  Mrs.  J.  E.,  396. 
Callender,  J.  T.,  127. 
Calwell,  Stephen,  355,  356. 
Cameron,  Simon,  355,  382. 
Campbell,  Thomas,   119. 
Cannon,  James,  94,  98,  105. 
Carey  and  Hart,  298,  340. 
Carey  and  Lea,  194,  339,  341. 


Carey,  Edward  L.,  339. 
Carey,    Henry   C.,    108,    139, 

200,  339,  343,  345,  349,  et 

seq. 
Carey,  Mathew,   127,   132  et 

seq.,    166,    200,    210,    339, 

342,  349,  350. 
Carey  Vespers,  354,  356. 
Careyites,  356. 
Carpenter,  S.  C.,  222. 
Carroll,  Charles,  200. 
Cary,  Alice,  269. 
Gary,  Phoebe,  269. 
"  Caspipina,  Tamoc,"  see  Ja 
cob  Duche. 
"  Cedarcroft,"  380,  381,  383, 

384. 
Centennial     Exhibition,     238, 

370. 
Chalkley,     Thomas,    writings 

of,  8,  46. 

"  Chalkley  Hall,"  8. 
Chambers'  Encyclopedia,  348. 
Chandler,  Joseph  R.,  269,  273, 

354,  377- 
Chapman,      Dr.      Nathaniel, 

176,  189,  196,  200,  201. 
Channing,  W.  E.,  196. 
"  Charcoal  Sketches,"  234. 
Chester,    Quaker    Settlements 

in,  7. 
Chester    County,    writers    of, 

7;  praised  by  Whittier,  331, 

332. 

Cheverus,  Bishop,  196. 
Cheves,  Langdon,  200. 


INDEX 


238,254. 
Odd,  Lffe  Maria,  278. 
QM*  Ctmy  W.,  284, 

412. 

Ouist  Owidi,  20,  23.  43.  44- 
Qark,   Lwii   Gaykrd,   300, 


^"^?  *  AT*~~"I— ,  f*    ••     T    •-.    •-rl  ^fc/'O 

vmx,    »  LUIS  vjaTiora,   200, 

Oarke,  Thomas  CoctrdL  i. 
228,287- 

David  C,  81 


WflKam,   154,   155, 


349- 


94,  ioi- 
H.  T.,  aid  Company, 

Dr.  Rej-nefl,  268,  281, 


WnKam,   109,   112, 

127,  130-13*. 

22;. 

55- 

218,  266,  359- 


23- 


...       --: 
.... 

ot  me 


91- 


161,  176. 

.  239,  243, 
246-249,  268,  273. 

of    the    United 
vfi,  9§,  103,  105. 


CJootcntcd  of  tnc  God  fearing 

SouL"  21. 

O™1""M"1*I  Congress,  104. 
Cooke,  George  Frederick,  222. 
v^ooper.  James  rennnore,  200, 

270,  274.  276,  346u 
Cooper,    E>r.    Thomas,     185, 

186. 

Cope,  E.  D^  364,  365- 
"Cousin    Alice,"    see    Alice 

NeaL 

COM,  Tench,  349. 
Cnncfa,  C  P.,  269,  340- 

Cutkr,  Manasseh,  122. 
Corkr,  Theodore  L.,  231. 

DaCosta,  J.  M^  362. 
D'Alembert,  92. 
Dallas,  A.  J^  127,  200. 

-^  '-  "  ' '  "~        L.  - 

Dana,  CA^  403. 
Dana,  R.  H^  269. 
Darier,  F.  A.  C,  287. 
Darlington,  William,  7,  201, 

206,  207. 
Daries,  Rev.  ft*""""*,  41,  42, 

46. 

Dark,  E.  \L,  292,  335. 
Davis,  Mrs.  R.  H^  212,  335. 
Declaration    of    Anti-Slavery 

Declaration  of  Independence, 

Tin,  105,  108. 
De  Haven,   E.  J.,  368,  3?i, 

375- 


INDEX 


4^3 


Delaney,  Sharp,  101. 
Dennie,   Joseph,    168   et  seq., 

189,  264. 

Dick,  engraver,  272. 
Dickens,    Charles,    234,    336, 

345- 

Dickenson.  Jonathan,  9. 
Dickins,  Asbury,  170. 
Dickinson,  Anna,  328. 
Dickinson,  John,  88,   91,  94, 

96,  99. 

Dickinson  College,  91. 
Diderot,  92. 

Dobson,  Thomas,  149,  224. 
Dock,  Christopher,  16,  29,  30. 
Douglass,  Frederick,  328. 
Duane,     William,      128-130, 

170,  242. 
Dubourg,  90,  91. 
Duche,  Jacob,  43,  44,  46,  61, 

78. 

Dunker  Church,  23,  24,  28. 
Dunlap,  John,  87. 
Dunlap,  William,  printer,  88. 
Dunlap,  William,  artist,  159. 
Duponceau,    P.    S.,    60,    133, 

144,  145,  196. 
Du   Pont   de   Nemours,    133, 

147- 

Du  Solle,  John  S.,  253. 

Economistes,  The,  92,  147. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  41. 
Elder,  Dr.  William,  354,  355, 
356. 


Ellet,  Mrs,  E.  F.,  231,  270, 

278,  340- 

Embury,  Mrs,,  270. 
Emerson,  R.  W.,  212,  340. 
Encyclopedia  Britannica,   149, 
Encyclopedists,  The,  92. 
English,  Thomas  Dunn,  231, 

268,  293-297- 
Ephrata.   Mystics  at,   23,  24, 

28,  29. 

Episcopal  Church,  42,  43. 
Evangeline.  20,  193. 
Evans.  Nathaniel,  6 1,  64,  67, 

68,  72-77>  "4.  416. 
Ewing.  Samuel,  176,  223. 

Factory  System,  260. 
FaLrfield,  Jane  Frazee,  213  et 

seq. 

FaMeld,  S.  L,,  213  et  seq. 
Falkners,    the    Pietists,  22, 
Farmer,  Letters  of  a,  88,  89, 

96. 

Farrand  and  Nicholas,  191. 
Federalists,    The,    118,     127, 

128,  129,  131. 
Fennell,  James,  239, 
Ferguson,   Elizabeth  Graeme, 

64,  76  et  seq. 

Ferguson,  Hugh  Henry,  78, 
Fessenden,     Thomas     Green, 

177. 

Fillmore,  President,  197. 
Fisher,  Rodney,  401. 
Forney,  John  W.,  269,  404. 


424 


INDEX 


Forrest,  Edwin,  241  et  seq. 

Fort  Wilson  Riot,  92,  101. 

Fox,  George,  4,  7. 

Fox,  Margaret,  372. 

France,  Franklin  in,  48,  52; 
philosophy  in,  91,  106,  125, 
127,  130,  155;  war  impend 
ing  with,  153. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  Pennsyl 
vania  Gazette  of,  14,  15  ;  his 

'  attack  on  Keimer,  1 5  ;  Ger 
man  paper  of,  25 ;  as  a 
monopolist,  27 ;  and  White- 
field,  36;  modifying  influ 
ence  of,  46,  51,  52,  91 ;  life 
and  works  of,  46  et  seq.; 
magazine  of,  63;  in  Penn 
sylvania  Convention  of 
J776,  94;  death  of,  122, 
123- 

Franklin,  Sir  John,  368,  372. 

Franklin,  Lady,  368,  370. 

Franklin  Inn,  48. 

Free    Labor    Products,    315, 

334- 

French  Revolution,   125,  130. 

Freneau,  Philip,  106,  ill, 
115-122,  125,  127,  129. 

Friends,  dwindling  number  of, 
ix;  schism  among  created  by 
Keith,  3,  4;  Hicks's  seces 
sion  from,  4;  characteristics 
of,  6;  anti-slavery  views  of, 
312  et  seq.;  literary  influ 
ence  of,  416. 

Frost,  John,  269. 


Fry,  William,  193,  197. 
Fry,  William  Henry,  197. 
Fulton,  Robert,  134. 
Furness,      Horace      Howard, 

337,  357- 

Furness,  Dr.  W.  H.,  200,  210, 
336,  340. 

Garrett,  Cyrus,  395. 

Garrison,  W.  L.,  312,  318, 
328,  332,  337- 

Geist,  J.  M.  W.,  257. 

Genet,  Citizen,   126. 

Gentleman's  Magazine,  Bur 
ton's,  263,  265. 

George,  Henry,  350. 

Germans  in  Pennsylvania,  IO, 
15  et  seq.,  62,  92. 

Germantown,   17,  20,  21,  23, 

254- 

Gifford,  William,  156. 
"  Gift,  The,"  228,  340. 
Goddard,  William,  88. 
Godey,  Louis  A.,  229  et  seq., 

236,  243,  263,  264. 
Godey 's  Lady's  Book,  229  et 

seq.,  310. 

Godfrey,  Thomas,  55-58. 
Godfrey,  Thomas,  Jr.,  64,  67, 

71,  74,  114,  416. 
Godkin,  E.  L.,  175. 
Godwin,  William,  157. 
Graeme,  Elizabeth,  see  E.  G. 

Ferguson. 

Graeme,  Thomas,  76. 
Graeme  Park,  76,  77,  79. 


INDEX 


425 


Graham,  George  R.,  227,  239, 

247,   263   et  seq. 
Graham's    Magazine,    263    et 

seq.,    310,    374,    375,    377, 

387,  392. 

Grambo,  Henry,  347,  348. 
Grant,  General,  354,  390. 
Graydon,  Alexander,  148. 
Greeley,    Horace,    270,    351, 

377,  378,  384- 
"Greenwood,     Grace,"     231, 

233,  235,  236,  270,  310. 
Grew,  Mary,  328. 
Grigg,  John,  346,  347. 
Grigg  and  Elliott,  347. 
Grimke,  A.  E.,  321,  332. 
Grinnell,  Henry,  368. 
Griswold,  Rufus  Wilmot,  227, 

272,    297-299,    375,    376, 

400. 
Gross,  Dr.  S.  D.,  362. 

Haddonfield,  Friends  in,  ix. 
Hadley's  Quadrant,  57. 
"  Hail  Columbia,"  154. 
Haines,  Reuben,  210. 
Hale,  Sarah  Josepha,  229,  230, 

232. 

Hall,  David,  227. 
Hall,  John  E.,  186,  187,  188. 
Hall,  Sarah,  186. 
Halleck,     Fitz-Greene,     242, 

269. 
Hamilton,     Alexander,     102, 

105,    106,    118,    126,    130, 

349- 


Hamilton,  Philip,  177. 
Hansen,  the  astronomer,  380. 
Hanson,  Alexander  C.,  186. 
Hare,  Dr.  Robert,  200. 
Harper's  Magazine,  284,  400. 
Harrison,  President  Benjamin, 

38. 

Hart,  Abraham,  339,  340. 
Hart,  John  S.,  278,  287. 
Haven,     Alice     Bradley,     see 

Alice  Neal. 
Hawthorne,    Nathaniel,    231, 

268,  270,  274. 
Hayes,   Dr.   Isaac,   200,   372, 

373- 

Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  384. 
Hazard,  Willis  P.,  349. 
Healy,  Joseph,  329,  330. 
Heine,  398. 
Henry,  Mayor,  355. 
Hicks,  Elias,  4,  328. 
Hirst,    Henry   B.,    268,    300, 

302-305- 

Historical  Society  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  354,  356,  361. 

Hoffman,  Charles  Fenno,  270, 
340. 

Hole,  Dean,  358. 

Holmes,  O.  W.,  231. 

Hopkinson,  Francis,  44,  56, 
61,  67,  106,  113,  114. 

Hopkinson,  Joseph,  56,  131, 
153  et  seq.,  172,  176,  187, 
200. 

Hopkinson,  Thomas,  56,  113. 

Howitt,  Mary,  228,  278. 


426 


INDEX 


Hewitt,  William,  278. 
Humboldt,     Alexander     von, 

199. 

Hume,  David,  35,  48. 
Humphreys,  James,  84. 
Hunter,  John,  201. 

Indiana   as  a  literary  centre, 

viii. 
Ingersoll,  Charles  Jared,  172, 

176,  189,  200. 
Irving,  Washington,  223,  224, 

231,  270,  346,  401. 

Jackson,  Paul,  61. 
Jansen,  Reynier,  6. 
Jay,  John,  102,  105,  127, 

128. 

James,  G.  P.  R.,  228,  274. 
Japan,  351. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  58,  59,  60, 

92,     104,    105,    118,    119, 

126,  128,  130,  141. 
Jeffrey,  119,  190,  205. 
Johnson,  Oliver,  328. 
Johnson,  Dr.  Samuel,  361. 
Junto,  Franklin's,  55. 

Kane,  E.  K.,  358,  367  et  seq. 
Kane,  Judge  J.  K.,  200,  367. 
Keimer,  Samuel,  15,  66. 
Keith,  George,  3,  6,  46. 
Keith,  Sir  William,  76. 
Kelpius,  Johannes,  16,  21,  22, 
46. 


Kemble,     Fanny,     269,     306, 

356,  367- 

Kennedy,  J.  P.,  346. 
King,  Captain,  348. 
Kinnersley,  Ebenezer,  56. 
Kirkland,  Mrs.,  278,  281. 
Knickerbockers,  The,  268. 
Knickerbocker  Magazine,  270, 

276,  284,  300,  400. 
Kossuth,  Louis,  308,  336. 
Koster,  22. 

Lake    School,    battle   on    the, 

218,  266,  392. 
Lamb,  Charles,  45. 
Lanier,  Sidney,  382. 
Larcom,  Lucy,  279. 
Lay,  Benjamin,  112,  313. 
"Lay    Preacher,    The,"    see 

Dennie. 

Lea,  Henry  C.,  139. 
Lea,  Isaac,  200,  339,  364. 
Lea  and  Blanchard,  285,  341. 
Leeds,  Daniel,  5,  49. 
Leidy,  Joseph,  364,  365. 
Leland,      Charles      Godfrey, 

211,    231,    268,    275,    279, 

284,  357»  374.  398  et  seq., 

413,415. 
Leslie,   Eliza,   231,  233,   340, 

345,  350. 

Leslie,  Frank,  400,  403. 
Leslie,  Charles  R.,  222,  233, 

340,  350. 
Le  Sueur,  200. 
Le  Veillard,  91. 


INDEX 


427 


Lewis,  "  Monk,"  157. 
Lewis,  William  D.,  354,  357. 
Linn,  John  Blair,  163. 
Linn,  William,  163,  176. 
Linnaeus,  56. 
Lippard,  George,  7,  239,  251 

et  seq. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,   394,   395. 
Lippincott,  J.  B.,  216,  348. 
Lippincott,  Leander  K.,  236. 
Lippincott,  Mrs.  Sara  J.,  see 

"  Grace  Greenwood." 
Lippincott's  Magazine,  348. 
Literary  Fairs,  342. 
Lithograph,  the  first,  224. 
Littell,  Eliakim,  194,  223. 
Lloyd,  Thomas,  10,  17. 
Logan,  Deborah,  12,  13,  219. 
Logan,  George,  12. 
Logan,  James,   10,  n,  12,  37, 

57- 

"  Log  College,"  37. 
London  Coffee  House,  14. 
Longfellow,    Henry   W.,    2O, 

268,    269,    273,    274,    276, 

278,    340,    374,    379,    385, 

392. 

Longwood  Meeting,  328,  383. 
Lowell,  ix,  268,  276,  282,  291, 

292,  374,  379- 
Lundy,  Benjamin,  313  et  seq. 

McClellan,  Dr.  George,  210. 
McConnell,  Dr.  S.  D.,  361. 
McHenry,  James,  213,  215  et 
seq. 


McKean,  Thomas,  94. 
McKim,   James   Miller,    328, 

329. 
McMichael,  Morton,  88,  227, 

236,    249,    263,    268,    351, 

354,  357,  36o. 
Madison,    James,     102,     105, 

115,  119,  125,  200. 
Malthus,  351,352,  355- 
Markoe,   Peter,    153. 
Marshall,  Humphry,  206. 
Marshall,  John,  15. 
Martineau,  Harriet,  278. 
"  Marvel,  Ik.,"  270. 
"Mary .had    a    little    lamb," 

230. 

Mason,  Dr.  Lowell,  230. 
Mather,  Cotton,  4. 
Matlack,  Timothy,  92,  97. 
May,  Samuel  J.,  210,  318. 
Maxwell,  Hugh,  160,  170. 
Mazzei,  Philip,  92. 
Medicine  in  Philadelphia,  109, 

no. 

Melodrama,  239. 
Meredith,  William,  172,  176, 

182,  200. 

Meschianza,  62,  237. 
Michaux,  Andre,  208. 
Michaux,  F.  A.,  208. 
Michelet,  252. 
Mifflin,   General,    IOI. 
Mifflin,  Warner,   313. 
Mill,  James,  350. 
Mill,  John  Stuart,  350,  351. 
Mirabeau,  47,  92,   147. 


428 


INDEX 


Mirror  of  Taste,  220,  223. 
Missouri  Compromise,  193. 
Mitchell,  Dr.  John  K.,  268. 
Mitchell,  Dr.  S.  Weir,  237. 
Moore,  Thomas,  177,  178, 

179,  1 80,  189,  200. 
Moore,    William,    of    Moore 

Hall,  62. 
Moravians    in     Pennsylvania, 

31. 

Moreau,  Jean  Victor,  199. 
Morgan,  Dr.  John,   no. 
Morris,  George  P.,  269,  274, 

292,  293. 
Morris,  Robert,  financier,  47, 

92,  94,  96,  99-104,  126. 
Morris,     Robert,     poet,     268, 

269,  300,  301. 
Mott,  Lucretia,  292,  322,  323, 

328,  333-336,  367. 
Muhlenberg,  F.  A.,  37,  94. 
Muhlenberg,  G.  H.,  37. 
Muhlenberg,  H.  M.,  27,  32, 

36,  46. 

Muhlenberg,  Peter,  37. 
Murat,  Prince,  200. 
Murdoch,  James  E.,  394,  395. 
Mystics,   German,   20-24. 

Napoleon,  190,  199. 
Nast,  Thomas,  395. 
Neal,  Alice,  231,  233,  234, 

235,  268. 
Neal,    Joseph    C.,    234,    268, 

340. 
Neall,  Daniel,  319,  329. 


Newcome,  Barnes,  359. 
Nicola,  Lewis,  86. 
Noah,  Mordecai  M.,  241. 
Nuttall,    Thomas,    200,    201, 
207-209. 

Oberholtzer,      Sara      Louisa, 

331. 

"  Oldschool,  Oliver,"  see  Jo 
seph  Dennie. 

Old  Swedes'  Church,  20,  142. 

Ord,  George,  142,  201. 

Osborne,  Charles,  54. 

Osgood,  Frances  Sargent,  270. 

Oswald,  Eleazer,  136. 

"  Ouida,"  348. 

Paine,    Thomas,    47,    83,    92, 

94-97- 

Parke,  John,   153. 
Parker,  Theodore,  328,  337. 
Parrish,  Dr.  Joseph,  323,  328. 
Parry    and    McMillan,    341, 

401. 

Parsons,  William,  55,  56. 
Pastorius,  16-20,  313. 
Patterson,     General     Robert, 

354- 

Patterson,  Dr.  R.  M.,  200. 
Patterson,    Samuel    D.,    227, 

277,  377,  379- 
Paulding,    J.    K.,    223,    224, 

231,  270,  276. 
Peabody,  George,  368. 
Peacock,  Gibson,  382. 
Peale,   Charles  Willson,   200. 


INDEX 


429 


Penn,  William,  i,  2. 
Penn  Charter  School,  3. 
Pennsylvania     Hall,     319    et 

seq. 
Pepper,    Dr.    William,     1 1 2, 

362,  363. 
Peters,   Dr.  Richard,  43,  44, 

46,  60,  77,  80,  112. 
Peters,  William,  43. 
Peters,  Judge  Richard,  of  Bel- 

mont,  43. 
Peters,  Richard,  son  of  Judge, 

177. 
Peterson,  C.  J.,  227,  236,  263, 

269,  272,  282. 
Peterson,    Henry,    227,    237, 

243- 

Peterson,  Sarah  Webb,  239. 
Peterson,  T.  B.,  237,  408. 
Percival,  J.  G.,  266. 
Peterson's     Magazine,      236, 

237- 

Phillips,  Wendell,  312,  337. 

Physick,  Dr.  P.  S.,  200,  201. 

Physiocratie,  The,  147. 

Pickering,  Timothy,  168. 

Pickwick  Papers,  The,  345. 

Pietists  in  Philadelphia,  21-23. 

Poe,  E.  A.,  ix,  231,  234,  239, 
265,  266,  272,  273,  279, 
282,  285,  et  seq.,  296-300, 
340,  346,  374- 

Political  Economy,  M.  Car 
ey's,  138;  H.  C.  Carey's, 
350,  et  seq. 

11  Poor  Richard,"  49-51. 


Pope,  55,  218,  266. 
"  Porcupine,  Peter,"  see  Wil 
liam  Cobbett. 

Port  Folio,  147,  1 68  et  seq. 
Poulson,  Zachariah,  88,  148. 
Prentice,  George  D.,  269. 
Presbyterians,  38,  62. 
Priestley,    Joseph,    133,    146, 

185,  337- 

Price,  Eli  K.,  365. 
Princeton     College,     37,     41, 

399- 

Proud,  Robert,  7,  148,  158. 
Purvis,  Robert,  328. 
Pusey,  Caleb,  7. 
Putnam's  Magazine,  284. 

Quakers,  influence  of,  ix,  416; 
writings  of,  7;  theology  of, 
8 ;  censorship  of  press  by,  61, 
62 ;  theocracy  of,  93 ;  as 
anti-slavery  advocates,  312 
et  seq. 

Quesnay,  Dr.  92,  147. 

Radcliffe,  Mrs.,  157. 
Ralph,  James,  54,  55,  95. 
Rawdon,  Wright  and  Hatch, 

engravers,  272-276. 
Rawle,  Francis,  349. 
Raymond,  Daniel,  138. 
Raynal,  Abbe,  92. 
Read,  T.  B.,  7,  231,  268,  374, 

376,  391  etseq.,  399,415- 
Reed,   Henry,   357,   358,   359 

et  seq. 


430 


INDEX 


Reed,  Joseph,  78. 
Reed,  William  B.,  357~36o. 
Rees's  Cyclopedia,  151. 
Reid,  Mayne,  270,  287,  289, 

307>  309,  368. 
Revolutionary  Novels,  237. 
Rhoads,  Samuel,  56. 
Ricardo,  351,  352,  355. 
Ripley,  George,  403. 
Ritner,  Abraham,  324,  325. 
Rittenhouse,    David,    26,    59, 

60,  92,  106,  109,  125. 
Rives,  Amelie,  348. 
Robespierre,  92,  97,  185. 
Rochefoucauld,   Duke  de  La, 

92. 

Rose,  Aquila,  66,  67. 
Rousseau,  48,  91,  92,  94,  98, 

105. 

Rowson,  Mrs.,  157. 
Rush,     Dr.     Benjamin,     106, 

110-113,     Ui,     132,     133, 

1 66,  184. 
Rush,  James,  210. 
Rush,  Richard,  176. 
"  Rydal  Mount,"  360. 

Sadd,  engraver,  272. 
Saint  Peter's  Church,  44. 
Sartain,  John,  265,  272,  276, 

278  et  seq.,  286,  290,  371. 
Sartain's    Magazine,    277    et 

*e<].,  374,  392,  400. 
Saturday  Evening  Post,  226- 

228,  263,  277,  375- 


Saur,  see  Sower. 

Saxe,  J.  G.,  269. 

Saxe- Weimar,   Duke  of,  200. 

Say,  Thomas,  200,  201,  206, 

355- 

Scandella,  Dr.,  159. 
Schuylkill  River,   54,  67. 
Scotch-Irish   in    Pennsylvania, 

x,  62,  92,  93. 

Scott,  Walter,  119,  191,  344. 
Sedgwick,  Miss,  231,  270. 
Serra,  Correa  da,  200,  207. 
Shakespeare,   149,  396. 
Sharswood,  George,  366. 
"  Sheridan's  Ride,"  395. 
Shippen,    William,    Jr.,    no, 

198. 
Sigourney,    Mrs.    Lydia    H., 

231,  270,  278,  340. 
Simms,  William  Gilmore,  231, 

270,  346. 
Slavery,      agitations      against, 

112;  its  influence  on  litera 
ture,  310  et  seq. 
"Slender,   Robert,"    see   Fre- 

neau. 

Sloanaker,  William,  277. 
Smillie,  engraver,  272,  276. 
Smith,  Adam,  138,  351. 
Smith,  Dr.  E.  H.,  159. 
Smith,    Richard    Penn,    243- 

246,  268. 

Smith,  Mrs.  Seba,  270. 
Smith,   Dr.  William,  35,  43, 

60-63,    68,    69,    108,    114, 

123- 


INDEX 


43i 


"  Society  of  the  Woman  in  the 

Wilderness,"  21. 
Sower,  Charles  G.,  28. 
Sower,  Christopher,  I,  16,  24 

et  seq.,  36,  88. 
Sower,  Christopher,  II,  24,  27, 

28. 

Spangenberg,  A.  G.,  31,  32. 
Speakman,  John,  206. 
Stenton,  n,  12. 
Stephens,  Ann  S.,  270. 
Steuart,  Andrew,  84. 
Steuben,  Baron,  145. 
Stevens,  Thaddeus,  320. 
Stevenson,  R.  L.,  2,  45. 
Stockton,  Frank  H.,  402. 
Stockton,  Thomas  H.,  402. 
Stoddard,   R.    H.,   269,    279, 

379. 
Stone,    John    Augustus,    242, 

244- 
Story,  W.  W.,  270. 
Stowe,  H.  B.,  231,  283,  3ii» 

312. 

Stuart,  Gilbert,  123. 
Sully,  Thomas,  265,  340. 
Swain,    Abell    and    Simmons, 

239- 
Taylor,    Bayard,    4,    7,    221, 

268,  273,  331,  357,  374  et 

seq.,   390,    397,    399,    41 5> 

416,  417. 

Taylor,  Frank,  377. 
Taylor,  Zachary,  256. 
"  Ten  Nights  in  a  Barroom," 

233. 


Tennent,  Gilbert,  38,  39,  40, 

46. 

Tennent,  John,  38. 
Tennent,  William,  I,  37,  38. 
Tennent,  William,  II,  38. 
Thackeray,     William     Make 
peace,   189,    199,   357,  358, 

359,  393- 

Theatres  in  Philadelphia,  220. 
Thomas,  Gabriel,  9. 
Thomas,     Moses,     223,    224, 

343- 

Thomas's  Dictionary,  348. 
Thiirnstein,  Lewis  von,  31,  32. 
Ticknor  and  Fields,  340,  390. 
Tilghman,  William,  200. 
Timothee,  Louis,  25. 
Towne,  Benjamin,  87. 
Tucker,  engraver,  272. 
Tuckerman,  H.  T.,  279,  340, 

416. 

Tuesday  Club,  168,  176. 
Turgot,  48,  91,   1 06. 
Tyler,  Moses  Coit,  298. 
Tyler,  Royal,  177. 
Tyler,  President,  197. 

"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  231, 

283,  311- 
Underground    Railroad,    312, 

317. 

Union  League,  390. 
University    of    Pennsylvania, 

60,  61,  63,  1 10,  356. 
Unwin,  Fisher,  410. 


432 


INDEX 


Vaughan,  John,  210. 
Vaux,  Roberts,  193,  210. 
Venus,  transit  of,  59,  108. 
Verplanck,  G.  C.,  157,  223. 
Vickers,  Mary,  317. 
Voltaire,  48,  91,  92,  94. 

Wallace,  Lew,  394. 

Walsh,   Robert,    176,    189   et 

seq.,  210,  266. 
Walsh's  Soirees,  189,  196. 
"  Ward,  Artemus,"  403. 
Warner,  Benjamin,  346,  347. 
Washington,  George,  44,   78, 

96,  102,  104,  118,  126,  127, 

128,  130,  151,  344- 
Waterman,     Miss,     21,     269, 

278,  305. 
Watson,    John    F.,    12,    210, 

219. 

Watson,  Joseph,  54. 
Waverley  Novels,  344. 
Wayne,  Caleb  P.,  149. 
Webbe,  John,  63. 
Webster,  Daniel,   197. 
Webster,  Noah,  145. 
Weems,  Mason  L.,  343,  344. 
Weld,  H.  H.,  227. 
Weld,  Theodore  D.,  321. 
West,   Benjamin,  7,  67,   133, 

134- 
West  Chester,  Friends  in,  ix. 

Westtown  School,  91. 
Wharton,    Thomas    I.,     177, 
357- 


Whipple,  E.  P.,  269,  283. 
White,  Bishop,  196,  359. 
Whitefield,    George,    35,    36, 

37,  60. 

Whitman,  Walt,  41 1  et  seq. 
Whittier,  Elizabeth,  330. 
Whittier,  John  G.,  ix,  8,  16, 

18,  292,   310,  315,  316  et 

se<l->  374,  4i6. 
Willing,    Thomas,    94,     100, 

313. 
Willis,  N.  P.,  231,  266,  269, 

289,  340,  377,  39i. 
Wilmington,  Friends  in,  ix. 
Wilson,  Alexander,   133,    139 

et  seq.,  147,  153,   177,  2OI, 

242. 
Wilson,  James,  47,  92,  94,  99, 

100,  101,  103,  104. 
Winthrop,  Robert  C.,  361. 
Wissahickon,  21,   22,  23,  26, 

107,  254,  256. 
Wistar,   Caspar,    184,    198  et 

seq. 
Wistar  Parties,  189,  196,  198 

et  seq.,  356. 

Wister,  Mrs.  A.  L.,  357. 
Witt,  Dr.  Christopher,  22,  23. 
Wood,  George  B.,  200,  362, 

363. 

Wood,  Mrs.  Henry,  228. 
Wood,  William  B.,  177. 
Woolman,  John,  43,  45,  46, 

112. 
Wordsworth,    William,    218, 

266,  359,  392. 


INDEX  433 

Yarnall,  Ellis,  360.  Zimmerman,  Pietist  leader,  21. 

Yellow  Fever  in  Philadelphia,  Zinzendorf,    Count    von,    31, 

in.  32. 
Young,  John  Russell,  371. 


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